Chapter 104: Hunting the Demon King (8)

I cut down all the Legion Commanders. 

No, to be precise…

‘He played a trick on me.’

I had cut down countless enemies.

Through the sensation of my blade passing through them, I could grasp the nature of my opponent. 

However, the unpleasant feeling I experienced when I slashed Salmora was different. 

It was a clear sign that I was dealing with a fake, not the real body.

‘It’s a clone.’

That realization allowed me to understand certain things.

Salmora. 

He knew my true identity.

‘Knowing who I am, there’s no way he would reveal his true self.’

I was the one who led the Twilight of the Gods. 

If anyone knew me or had experienced what I was capable of, they would never reveal themselves recklessly — especially if they were an enemy. 

They would know that doing so was synonymous with death.

The only time such a person would appear is when they were certain they could escape my reach.

But was that truly possible? 

Was there any existence capable of enduring the zenith of my abilities and the Status that had slaughtered countless Legion Commanders?

Leaving that question behind, I looked straight ahead.

The domain created by the Yokai and the Magic Legion Commander began to dissolve, and the scenery returned to normal.

“Clap, clap!”

Demon King Ingram stood there arrogantly, clapping his hands.

Despite the fact that his subordinate commanders had all been annihilated (though Salmora likely remained alive), his arrogance remained unshaken.

“As expected of the Status of Victory. It is a marvelous power worthy of being called the unique status.”

Victory Declaration.

It was a unique authority that twisted all causality and fate to ensure a win.

It exerted an absolute power that disregarded the number or strength of the enemy.

Of course…

-Sizzle!

Due to the depletion of my Status through the Victory Declaration, I was no longer the God of Victory; I had returned to being the human, Kim Si-won.

“But what will you do now? I imagine you have already exhausted all of your strength.”

I had consumed a great deal of my Status to manifest and maintain the Victory Declaration. 

This was likely exactly what the Demon King had been aiming for — draining my Status so I couldn’t use the Victory Declaration again.

The sacrifice of the Legion Commanders hadn’t been in vain. 

By making them the fuel to burn through my Status of Victory, the Demon King’s triumph had become a foregone conclusion.

“Do you truly believe a mere human, not even a divine being, can face me?” A smirk played on his lips. 

He seemed certain of his victory.

It made sense. 

To begin with, a Demon King was a special species that reigned at the pinnacle of all things. 

Created from the soul of a god, he could be considered the most powerful existence among all creations. 

Even his birth was extraordinary.

Furthermore, this Demon King had accumulated discipline and karma through repeated cycles of reincarnation. 

He was a monster that few, even among the divine, could handle.

Against such a great existence, what could a human possibly do? 

The Demon King had already foreseen his victory.

“The sin of daring to take something precious from me… I shall collect payment for it here and now.”

Around him, “kaboom!” A peak level of energy erupted.

It was the Overlord’s Pressure and the Pitch-black Sanctuary that I had witnessed once before. 

Although I had experienced it once, this was the original. 

I could feel a magnitude of existence and power that couldn’t even be compared to a weakened replica.

Because of that, my body began to tremble. 

The sheer scale of the Demon King’s existence was making me feel infinitely weak.

‘He’s going all out.’

He wasn’t letting his guard down. 

He was thorough by nature, and since I was the one who had killed the Hero, he didn’t underestimate me in the slightest. 

I could feel a lethal intent from him — an absolute will to kill me.

I scanned my surroundings and all I could see was darkness. 

Due to the Pitch-black Sanctuary, all my senses were suppressed. 

It was a world where I couldn’t see, hear, or even smell. 

I was only permitted this pitch-black space.

Darkness holds the unknown, and thus, humans fear it. 

The unknown is the most terrifying realm for humanity and the Pitch-black Sanctuary manifested by the Demon King was the realization of the source of darkness. 

It was an unknown that even I couldn’t help but feel a sliver of fear toward.

However…

“Darkness, is it?”

I didn’t mind. 

To me, darkness was just darkness.

Of course, what if the Demon King was hiding within that darkness? 

What if his attacks continued while I was unable to see through the gloom?

‘Nothing is impossible.’

I couldn’t see, hear, smell, or even feel, but it was fine. 

I spread my energy. 

At first, it was faintly gathered like soap bubbles.

But then, “thump.” 

It gradually turned into tiny grains.

Smaller, smaller, and smaller.

Those finely split particles broke down into units smaller than molecules, completely taking control of the area around me. 

This was one of my ultimate secret techniques that I hadn’t revealed until now.

[Zero-Style Transparency]

It was the original technique that allowed me, a mere human, to rival the divine and reign as the strongest existence on the continent.

“Bam!”

An attack that crossed through space.

The opponent was the Demon King.

There was no need to explain the ferocious power contained in that single strike. 

The attack was already descending upon my body before I could even perceive it.

However, it slid right through. 

It was the power of permeation generated by the Zero-Style Transparency. 

Every attack from the opponent simply passed through my body.

Furthermore, “bang, bang!” 

Most of the attacks failed to hit my body accurately. 

It had to be that way. 

It was the manipulation of boundaries.

The energy spread around me manipulated space. 

To put it simply, it distorted the space I perceived and the space the opponent perceived. 

Even though he was clearly aiming at me, the attack would land elsewhere.

But he didn’t care and continued his assault. 

He realized I was manipulating permeation and boundaries.

-Vroom!

He poured his will into his fist. 

That was the Absolute Strike — a will capable of breaking through permeation and boundary manipulation.

However, “click!” Time stopped.

Control and manipulation weren’t the only powers that could be exercised through Zero-Style Transparency.

Zero.

The Zero Point.

I stopped the enemy’s attack at a specific point. 

The attack imbued with the Demon King’s Absolute Strike halted right in front of me.

I didn’t dodge.

“Thump!”

I shook space itself, redirecting the Demon King’s attack into a different dimension. 

While controlling that entire situation, I focused my mind on a single thing.

‘Cutting.’

Everything was concentrated on that one mental image. 

To cut. 

That was the act of carrying out my will.

Then, what about a weapon?

I had none. 

I was empty-handed. 

I didn’t have the Sword of Victory, nor did I have Anus, the Sword of Will.

In that case, what could I use to cut?

‘Pure will.’

In the past, I had seen it. 

I had seen the ultimate state achieved by an old man who had devoted his entire life to a single strike. 

It was the ultimate path I had to master, the road I eventually had to walk.

It had to be that way because I was a human.

The Commander of the Undead Legion. 

The God of Victory. 

Those were merely parts of my distorted existence; in the end, my foundation was human. 

Thus, it was only natural to aim for the highest realm a human could reach. 

The sword that the old man had shown me served as the guidebook for the path I had to take as a human.

So, I practiced.

I slashed, and slashed, and slashed again. 

I did so until I could manifest the old man’s sword.

When I realized a part of that sword, I killed the Hero. 

When I could fully manifest that sword, I led the Twilight of the Gods. 

And when I surpassed that sword, I was able to conquer the continent as a human and finally stand at the peak.

What I was seeing now was the greatest attack I could unleash as a human. 

It was my full power, a strike I could call my soul’s ultimate effort.

And to manifest it, there was something I needed.

[Unification]

I possessed various types of energy.

Aura, magical power, poison energy, divinity, and the Chaos I obtained by merging them. 

However, among these, the pure energy a human could obtain was aura. 

Therefore, I converted all my other energies into aura.

Unification. 

It was the act of substituting different energies into one.

Of course, this substitution didn’t result in a 100% conversion. 

A significant amount of energy was lost during the process. 

That lost energy would never return; it scattered from my body and returned to nature.

But I didn’t regret it. 

I was facing a foe like the Demon King. 

I didn’t even have the luxury of holding anything back. 

Whatever the price was, I had to pay it willingly if it meant I could eliminate him. 

Because I was willing to sacrifice everything, this was my full power.

-Hummm!

The aura inside my body began to overflow. 

Of course, that was only for a split second.

The aura obtained through Unification would eventually return to its original form over time.

But right now, at this very moment…

‘The absolute aura that rejects being human!’

I was a human, but this was an aura no human could possess. 

And this aura became the engine and energy to manifest my will.

-Sizzle!

t was the energy supporting the sword of pure will I was creating now. 

My will transformed into a sword — a pure white blade. 

Looking at that sword, which didn’t seem to suit me at all, I gripped it tightly.

It was the framework. 

The skeletal structure of will completed through the energy source called aura.

Therefore, “vroom!” I imbued it.

‘Cut.’

The zenith of slashing. 

That peak level of will.

The sword vibrated. 

That vibration wasn’t the kind of shaking one normally imagines.

It multiplied. 

The Sword of Will was splitting.

Was it an afterimage? 

No.

The Sword of Will, which had repeatedly split, increased infinitely.

Each one was connected to my will.

And then…

“This is the potential of the humans you consider insignificant. This is the Slash that has reached the zenith!”

My will was only one thing. 

To cut.

It wasn’t a recreation of the movements the old man had shown in the past; it was the realization of my own will.

[Ultimate Slashing Technique]

The sword fell vertically. 

In sync with that, all the split swords performed the same movement, manifesting the Ultimate Slashing Technique.

At that moment, “crack!” The loud sound of something collapsing echoed out.

Was it an illusion? 

No, it had collapsed.

The boundary the Demon King had manifested. 

His absolute domain.

“H-How?!”

Then, the Demon King was revealed.

Finally showing himself, he stared at me with a face full of dismay.

He likely couldn’t believe it. 

The Pitch-black Sanctuary was the crystallization of the power the Demon King could manifest. 

To have it broken not by some external force, but solely by the power of a human… it was probably the greatest insult to him. 

Because it was the work of a human, a being he considered as insignificant as a bug.

“What… just what is that slash?”

After disbelief and denial came the question. 

Thus, he asked about my strike.

“The Ultimate Slashing Technique. You could call it the ultimate state reached by the humans you looked down upon.”

The moment those words ended, -rip!

From head to toe, the Demon King’s body was split exactly in two, collapsing like a bundle of straw. 

It was the same end as the Legion Commanders from before.

‘No.’

Was it the end? 

No.

There was a reason the Demon King was special. 

He had two lives. 

His remaining life — which could perhaps be called his true body — was only revealed after the human-form Demon King died.

-Swish!

Countless tentacles erupted from the split corpse.

“Crunch!”

They pulled the divided body back together. 

But it wasn’t just joining them.

-Sizzle!

The innumerable tentacles wrapped around his body. 

And then, the essence of the Demon King, his true source which had never been revealed until now, appeared in this world.

It was none other than…

“You certainly did a good job of dragging me out.”

A black silhouette. 

A darkness that even my Insight Eye couldn’t pierce through.

“It’s been a long time, Darkness.”

It was the God of Darkness.