CH 272

From the air, Ha Song-Su literally and figuratively looked down on Soo-Jung. His nonchalant stance alone was enough to indicate his level of arrogance.

Soo-Jung opened her mouth. “You got lucky last time.”

Soo-Jung and Ha Song-Su had already battled once before. A fight was better than a conversation for creating acquaintances. By that logic, they could be called acquaintances.

Ha Song-Su didn’t reply, and Soo-Jung became even tenser. Her words fell on deaf ears as he refused to respond and attack her. He kept looking down at her.

She had a bad feeling about this, and anxiety built up inside her.

‘This can’t be.’ She wanted to believe it was impossible.

Shaking her head, she looked up and ordered, “Get down from there.”

Soo-Jung flicked his index like she was turning on a light switch. A black flame, the reason behind her code name, began burning Ha Song-Su.

“Things are different now,” Soo-Jung growled. She was saying that to herself and Ha Song-Su.

Finally, a battle erupted.

Boom, boom!

Ha Song-Su, who hadn’t moved so far, finally retaliated. A huge amount of energy exploded from his body, and the black flames died down simultaneously.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, he sprang toward Soo-Jung.

In a millisecond, he had made his move. Soo-Jung was a little surprised that her black flame dissipated so easily, but she was ready.

Like all the Eden creatures, she had become stronger since her last battle.

Forming a shield in one hand, Soo-Jung moved back to avoid being hit.

Kaboom!

Ha Song-Su, aiming to ram into her, crashed into the ground instead, sending dirt and stones flying everywhere.

“I’ll kill you.” Ha Song-Su finally spoke through the dust.

But Soo-Jung wasn’t alone.

“Unnie!”

With Yoo-Bin leading them, the others arrived to help.

Ha Song-Su’s eyes glowed.

***

“I apologize for calling you a lowly demon.” Bodhidharma thrust his fist toward Paimon, but it never reached the demon. It was a surprise attack, but Paimon seemed to have avoided it with ease.

“Hmm…” An apathetic look appeared on Paimon’s face. A tail had blocked the last attack, which belonged to a Leviathan standing behind Paimon.

Bodhidharma quickly hopped away when he saw Leviathan’s tail coming after him.

“You can’t be a lowly demon because you’re a renowned demon.” Bodhidharma looked around rapidly. Even before he had arrived, he could feel this place's evil. But now that he was here, it was even worse.

This place was akin to a demon lair, housing only powerful beasts. He had called Paimon a lowly demon, but it was clear Paimon wasn’t someone to be underestimated.

‘He’s powerful.’ Bodhidharma could feel Paimon’s vile yet incredible energy.

Bodhidharma quickly looked back to see the orb around Gi-Gyu thinning. Just a moment ago, he had felt a special connection with Gi-Gyu. Their sync was still disconnected, so Bodhidharma guessed that it was Gi-Gyu borrowing his power, which Gi-Gyu had mentioned before.

‘I need to buy him some time,’ Bodhidharma decided. He trusted Gi-Gyu to overcome this situation, so he just needed to buy him time. If possible, he wanted to destroy this demon lair, but Bodhidharma didn’t think it would be possible.

Bodhidharma became quiet, aware that Paimon was on a whole other level than Aamon. The other demons here were also much more powerful than Aamon.

“You must be a remnant of Kronos, huh?” Paimon asked.

“...!” For the first time, Bodhidharma showed shock and confusion.

Paimon seemed to be studying Bodhidharma as he continued, “How interesting. You are only a replica created by Gaia, yet you have grown so powerful. You can’t be an immortal, so you must be a result of that man’s unique power?”

Bodhidharma wished he could shut Paimon up immediately, but two Leviathans were protecting Paimon like faithful dogs.

“Is it possible for a replica to surpass the original? I don’t know… Gaia gained God’s power, so perhaps she made that possible,” Paimon mumbled to himself. “Ah… Maybe this has already been proven true?”

Paimon continued to mumble, while Bodhidharma concentrated on finding Paimon’s weakness. Unfortunately, Bodhidharma couldn’t find any openings. However, that didn’t matter because his job was to stall for time, not kill him.

“Ah! I apologize. I became distracted because you’re such an interesting case.” Paimon’s eyes turned serious.

Boom!

Bodhidharma quickly dodged; milliseconds later, an ice spear struck his original spot.

“I’m ready to deal with you now. I always welcome unique cases like yours. I can’t wait to dissect you after this.” Paimon’s monocle sparkled, his eyes traveling from Bodhidharma to Gi-Gyu behind him.

Kaboom!

But Bodhidharma had no time to worry about Paimon’s thoughts. Several ice spears, cold enough to turn him into a block of ice, were after him. All he could do was concentrate on dodging them.

Bodhidharma was confident he could fight all magic and energy attacks, but physical attacks like this were harder to avoid. While dodging the ice spears and keeping his eyes on Paimon, Bodhidharma glanced at Gi-Gyu.

‘Hurry.’ Bodhidharma urged. Everything depended on Gi-Gyu.

Bodhidharma wasn’t in good condition. He hadn’t gotten enough time to recover from his battle against Aamon. He may have been Bodhidharma, but he couldn’t use his powers perfectly, and hell, he wasn’t even the original Bodhidharma.

He knew Paimon would defeat him, but this didn’t matter. Bodhidharma was ready to die to buy his son as much time as possible.

***

Gi-Gyu hadn’t lost consciousness. In fact, he was watching everything. The sorcerous energy orb was thinner than ever, so although his sync to Bodhidharma hadn’t returned, he could see and hear everything.

Kaboom!

The explosions outside the orb were so loud that it seemed like the world was ending.

Then again, would the end of the world not have explosions, light beams, icicles, geysers, and firestorms? Because they were out there.

-It’s… almost done…

Lou spoke to Gi-Gyu.

Gi-Gyu was almost done absorbing all the sorcerous energy, which was shocking. The amount once seemed limitless, but it was now all trapped inside Gi-Gyu.

The problem was that there was no way of knowing when it might explode. His shell was still expanding, but all this sorcerous energy was too much to bear nonetheless.

This was why Gi-Gyu compressed the energy to pile it up. He was in a precarious situation because his shell could explode anytime.

Gi-Gyu asked, ‘Are you okay, Lou?’

There was no answer. He wondered if it was because Lou was too focused. Or was it because he had absorbed too much of the hell kings’ sins?

The reason really didn’t matter because Gi-Gyu himself couldn’t concentrate.

“Haaa…” Gi-Gyu stopped thinking and exhaled. Thick sorcerous energy came out of his mouth like cigarette smoke. This energy joined the orb but was reabsorbed by Gi-Gyu seconds later.

This cycle continued for a while.

-Get ready…

Gi-Gyu finally heard Lou’s voice, taking it as a good sign. Things must be finally working out.

“Haaa…” Another puff of dark energy left Gi-Gyu’s mouth and joined the orb. He closed his eyes, feeling like he was about to burst. He couldn’t use this immense power, which led to his current unstable condition. The sorcerous energy was eroding his body.

Gi-Gyu suddenly opened his eyes. His eyes slowly turned black, but he hadn’t awakened a new power.

These physical changes occurred because Gi-Gyu couldn’t absorb all the sorcerous energy Gi-Gyu. This toxic energy was roaming in and out of his body.

But this didn’t matter.

[You have leveled up Energy Control.]

[You have mastered Energy Control.]

Crack!

The sound of glass breaking rang in the air. The sorcerous energy orb scattered to form spears in the air and plunged toward the Leviathans.

Gi-Gyu turned to see Bodhidharma panting.

“Haa… Haa…” Bodhidharma was also looking at Gi-Gyu.

Gi-Gyu began seeing black dots, his vision blurring. His vision alone wasn’t turning dark because of the sorcerous energy. Everything became dim.

“I’ve been waiting for you…” Bodhidharma said before collapsing.

Gi-Gyu took a moment to look over the monk. Bodhidharma was in horrible condition. He may have been Bodhidharma, but Gi-Gyu knew he couldn’t take on multiple hell kings.

So how did the monk manage to last this long? How did he summon more power than he had?

Was it really because the monk thought of Gi-Gyu as his son?

Whatever the reason, it helped Bodhidharma last this long. The monk’s limbs were frozen and about to shatter. Gi-Gyu turned his head again, seeing the black spheres floating around Bodhidharma.

Clap, clap, clap.

Paimon suddenly began clapping. “You… you really did it!”

Paimon’s voice was filled with ecstasy, and it upset Gi-Gyu.

“I didn’t think it was possible! And this quickly too!” Paimon yelled. “The Kronos’ remnant is interesting too, but…”

His white coat fluttered before it began burning. His upper body was revealed; he was muscular yet strangely thin.

“I don’t think I’ve met anyone as interesting as you.”

“S…” Gi-Gyu’s lips cracked from dryness as he muttered, “Shut up…”

He needed to remain calm. Gi-Gyu knew he couldn’t afford to be emotional now. Lou had taken a great risk to absorb this much energy, and he himself wasn’t in great shape either. He felt like he was about to burst. His tendons and blood vessels were bulging. The sorcerous energy he had absorbed was coursing through his body, ready to explode.

“Hahahaha! Excellent! I love it! You did it much quicker than I expected and were very successful! Now, it’s time!” Paimon opened his hand.

“Kwerrrrrk!”

The two Leviathans screamed in pain before they exploded. An ice spear materialized in each of Paimon’s hands.

Bloodthirst and interest appeared in Paimon’s eyes as he announced, “Now, I will take the battle data from you.”

Paimon suddenly heard an eerie whisper in his ear. Next, he realized that Gi-Gyu was right in front of his nose.

“Do you really think…” Gi-Gyu whispered, “You’ll leave this place alive?”

Gi-Gyu was holding a sword in his hand. It was a huge sword, even bigger than Gi-Gyu himself, and exuding black smoke.

Find the original at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

“Die.” Gi-Gyu swung it.