Zrakan lifted his chin slightly and looked down at Sang-woong Park.
It was an arrogant attitude, as if looking down at insignificant humans swarming on the ground from the top of a castle.
His subordinates also showed hostility, placing their hands on their sword hilts or growling toward Sang-woong Park with an air of enmity as he stood rudely.
But Sang-woong Park was not intimidated at all.
Rather, he showed a tense fighting spirit toward Zrakan and asked.
“I am the Owner of the Land, Sang-woong Park. Who are you?”
At Sang-woong Park’s blunt words, Zrakan’s brow furrowed deeply as if unpleasant.
“To think a mere insect would dare ask my name, what an insolent fellow.”
Sang-woong Park chuckled as if it were absurd at Zrakan’s words.
“A guy who was kicked out to the furthest Outskirts because he had no power doesn’t seem to know his place.”
“Ugh!”
Sang-woong Park’s words became a blade that seemed to pierce Zrakan’s heart.
Sang-woong Park’s words were not wrong.
After occupying this world, the Demon Tribe took the land they wanted according to their power, and Zrakan, who was weak, naturally had no choice but to be pushed out from the center.
Eventually, he was pushed out to the most isolated region.
Sang-woong Park could guess this fact through the monster’s habits.
The monster he saw when he first came to the land was a Goblin, known as the weakest.
For that reason, he intuitively felt that the Zrakan in front of him was the weakest among the existing Demon Tribe.
Of course, that didn’t mean Zrakan was an easy opponent.
The energy radiating from him was overwhelmingly strong.
“How dare you mock me”
Unable to endure it, Zrakan drew the giant sword at his waist.
The well-honed blade glinted blue in the sunlight.
Zrakan rushed in without hesitation, intending to finish Sang-woong Park easily.
The Owner of the Land was an existence that threatened the existence of the Demon Tribe, and he was grateful just for appearing before his eyes like this.
Moreover, the guy was as good as alone.
“Stupid fellow. You’re trying so hard to be killed.’
Zrakan snorted and rushed without hesitation, intending to finish Sang-woong Park at once.
“Kuaaaak!”
Zrakan’s sword charged like a flash with a roar.
As his feet kicked off the ground, the earth shook minutely, and black Magi swirled like a storm along the trajectory of the sword’s movement.
It wasn’t a simple physical attack.
The evil energy emitted by his very existence distorted the space and swept over Sang-woong Park.
Zrakan had no doubt that with his overwhelming power, a mere human would be unable to even resist and would disappear like dust.
Indeed.
But Sang-woong Park did not disappear.
The human’s body, which he thought would be unable to even react to the lightning-fast speed, moved surprisingly nimbly.
Just before Zrakan’s sword arrived, Sang-woong Park’s hand went to his waist, and a sword emitting a sharp aura was drawn out.
Sword and sword, aura and aura collided head-on.
Kwa-aaaang!
The moment Zrakan’s sword and Sang-woong Park’s sword clashed, a shockwave exploded in all directions.
The leaves nearby trembled as if exposed to a gale, and even Aria, Leon, and Zrakan’s subordinates opened their eyes wide in shock.
Zrakan’s overwhelming Magi and Sang-woong Park’s clear and solid Mana clashed, seemingly causing minute cracks in the space.
“Wha… what is this?”
For the first time, embarrassment flashed across Zrakan’s face.
His blow was blocked by the sword of a human he had considered insignificant until now?
Zrakan burst out in anger and poured out an even more powerful attack once again, as if he could never accept this fact.
It was much faster than before, and the black Magi was more thickly imbued.
The blatant murderous intent to kill froze the space.
Sang-woong Park tried not to lose his composure even amidst the surging murderous intent.
Zrakan was the strongest opponent he had met so far.
An extreme danger where his body felt like it would be cut in two with just a slight mistake.
Fear surged in instinctively, but Sang-woong Park did not shrink back.
His body was already tempered by numerous experiences.
Memories of being tiredly exposed to life-threatening dangers in his previous life.
Missions where everything would end with a single mistake, unexpected traps, and life-and-death struggles with monsters beyond imagination.
His entire body and mind were engraved with the memories and know-how of overcoming such extreme situations.
After the Regression, his experience deepened further as he went through large-scale battles he hadn’t experienced in his previous life.
Those experiences became the most powerful guide that allowed him to move his body instinctively at this moment when Zrakan’s sword poured down.
Instead of being paralyzed by fear, his nerves stood on edge sensitively.
He captured every single movement of Zrakan, the minute tremors of his muscles, and even the flow of the energy loaded within, without missing a thing.
Before thinking with his head, his body already reacted.
When Zrakan’s sword rushed in, he drew the most efficient defensive trajectory with minimal movement.
Sometimes he clashed head-on to let the power flow away, and sometimes he dug into the opponent’s opening while avoiding the blade by a hair’s breadth.
Clang!
Clang!
Kwa-ang!
Every time sword and sword clashed, a metallic friction sound and a powerful aura collision sound burst out as if tearing.
Zrakan’s attacks became increasingly fierce and fast, but Sang-woong Park held out without shaking, like a lighthouse in a storm.
His sword was not flashy, but it was solid and without gaps.
The skill of a veteran Hunter, tempered by overcoming numerous crises of death, shone brightly.
“This is impossible… This human. How could a mere human…!”
Astonishment surged along with the anger boiling inside Zrakan.
It started with interest at first, then embarrassment, and now it was a denial of the unbelievable reality.
In terms of strength alone, he was clearly stronger.
But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t knock him down.
This was a humiliation.
Clashing swords with a mere human for this long was a humiliation he couldn’t forget.
Moreover, his subordinates were watching this fight with their eyes wide open.
A deep scratch was made on his arrogant pride.
“I thought you were someone with skill since you talked so big, but as expected, your skill is just enough to be pushed out to the Outskirts.”
Sang-woong Park’s mockery about being pushed to the Outskirts stuck like a dagger.
Before fighting, it was just enough to make him burst with frustration, but now, pain and anger surged as if piercing his lungs with a sharp awl.
Zrakan felt his reason blurring.
It wasn’t just simple anger.
A sense of shame as if the very foundation of his existence was being denied and a blind murderous intent to tear this human to pieces immediately swallowed him.
He unconsciously pulled up his power even more.
The Magi erupting from his whole body dyed even the atmosphere black.
“No… it can’t go on like this. This human… is much stronger than I thought.’
But the survival instinct engraved deep in his gut sent a danger signal.
He couldn’t deal with this human with blind anger alone.
This fight would be longer and more dangerous than he thought.
Even if he poured out all his power, he might suffer a fatal blow himself the moment he let his guard down.
Zrakan glared at Sang-woong Park.
He felt a cold shiver at the opponent’s eyes still burning with fighting spirit.
‘This fight… I can win. If I pour in everything I have. But… damn it… to bring down this human… I might have to give up at least one arm myself.’
Such a victory was not a victory.
No, it was a miserable defeat.
It was the nature of the Demon Tribe for the strong to stand at the very top.
If he lost an arm, his subordinates would immediately bite and tear him apart.
‘No. I don’t need to give up my arm.’
Zrakan’s pride was hurt, but he first widened the distance and stepped back.
If he fought together with his subordinates, he would be able to win this fight easily.
Sang-woong Park glared keenly at Zrakan, who suddenly ended the fight and stepped back.
Judging by his belligerence, he wasn’t one to step back easily.
If so… he clearly had some scheme.
In this situation, there was only one scheme Zrakan could choose.
He would surely attack together with his subordinates.
“Hmph! Do you think it will go as you planned?”
Sang-woong Park took out giant Golems from his Inventory.
As the land grew wider, not knowing from which direction the Demon Tribe would invade, he had been keeping more than a certain number of Golems in his Inventory at some point.
As he pulled out the heavy Golems, the muscles in Zrakan’s face stiffened.
He knew he was a formidable guy, but his response was also formidably fast.
Before he knew it, even before his army could arrive, the number of Golems surpassed his subordinates.
Although his subordinates’ skills were outstanding, the overwhelming power coming from numbers could not be ignored.
“What, such a guy…”
Until now, he had heard stories that the Owner of the Land possessed unusual power.
But seeing it before his eyes, that power was enormous.
That was no different from a one-man army.
“I will retreat for now”
If they fought right now, they would inevitably be at a disadvantage.
Zrakan mounted his horse in a rage.
Every time he whipped it, his horse galloped like crazy with a scream, and the subordinates following him fell far behind, unable to keep up with that speed.
Like his boiling anger, the dark red sky was covered with dark clouds as if it would pour down heavy rain at any moment.
After running for dozens of minutes, Zrakan finally arrived at his castle.
Thick Magi was wrapped around the castle walls, and an ominous pressure as great as that energy erupted from the entire castle.
Zrakan jumped inside the castle gate while still on his horse, breathing heavily.
As the giant iron gate closed with a roar, the inside of the castle was wrapped in a deadly silence.
Returning to his luxuriously decorated room, Zrakan gnashed his teeth.
Pitch-black Magi covered his entire body.
His ultimate interest was only to hone his skills and conquer the ‘good land’ of stronger Demon Tribe members.
He had been engrossed in the thought of training his subordinates and raising more monsters to take away the territories of other Demon Tribe members.
But that ambition was never easy to achieve.
The core of every plan was the labor of ‘human slaves’.
It was no exaggeration to say that everything in Zrakan’s castle revolved around them.
Human slaves farmed to feed and support the Demon Tribe.
That wasn’t all.
They planted plants or trees that emitted Magi to create an environment where the Demon Tribe and monsters could live well.
However, Magi was like poison to humans, and as the Magi grew stronger, the humans became sick and weak, eventually facing death.
To obtain new human slaves, he had to capture wandering humans who did not belong to the Demon Tribe or buy them from other Demon Tribe members by giving appropriate compensation.
However, for him, who had settled in this furthest Outskirts after being pushed out by other Demon Tribe members, there was no way he had treasures that could serve as compensation.
Even if he had them, it would have been barely enough for him to use for himself.
In the midst of this, a completely unexpected enemy appeared.
Moreover, a powerful enemy capable of eating away at his very foundation.
He didn’t have the slightest thought of losing, but if a full-scale battle broke out, he would inevitably suffer significant damage himself.
If that happened, he didn’t know how much time his ambition to advance to better land would be pushed back.
No, he might be forced to sit in this Outskirts for the rest of his life.
That was something that could never be tolerated.
It would rather be less humiliating to die fighting.