Chapter 297 – The Fist is Light
Kwa-jak! Kwa-jajak!
Fists and axes clashed wildly.
With every impact, water overflowed from the canal, and the entire wall cracked.
The shattered gaps filled with crimson blood.
Kwa-jak—
With each collision, drops of blood splattered from Arthur's body.
Zarakan’s gleaming axe was sharp and merciless. Arthur’s fist struck against that terrifying axe blade.
“You stupid bastard!"
His fists split, his arms were torn, his entire body cut and scarred.
Arthur deflected, diverted, and blocked the axe with only his body.
A massive amount of blood gushed out from his gruesome wounds, enough to make it surprising he was still alive.
Yet Arthur’s attacks grew even fiercer than before.
He fought like a mad fighting dog, throwing his entire body into every move.
Ssskuk—
“Kehehheh.”
Zarakan, having successfully severed Arthur’s leg tendon, let out an uncontrollable laugh, confident in his victory.
Now the guy would collapse any moment, and the cooking would begin.
But—
Puck!
“...Kuhugh?!”
Zarakan’s breath caught.
The man who should’ve immediately collapsed instead drove his knee into Zarakan’s chest.
Zarakan’s hulking form tumbled into the canal, flailing like a soaked rat.
“Huaa, huaa, huaa.”
Heavy breaths filled the space.
Arthur, fists tightly clenched in the basic stance of Quanru, was covered in severe wounds.
Zarakan, writhing and coughing up blood, looked healthier by comparison.
Samuel, watching the battle, stared at Arthur with a shocked expression.
“Young man? Are you alright?”
No, he realized he needed to change how he referred to Arthur.
Not a boy, but a monster boy.
Arthur held out a hand to stop the approaching Samuel. He turned his gaze, sensing a chilling killing intent.
The guy was still fine.
Zarakan stood, swept his wet hair back, and examined his axe.
His face was full of disbelief.
It wasn’t because of Arthur.
It was because of himself.
Through that recent exchange, he had realized something clearly.
Zarakan bit his lip and growled.
“What the hell did you do to me?”
His axe technique had dulled.
The axe technique moved along a route optimized for extracting human blood.
It needed to be clean, painless.
A body wracked with pain becomes stiff, reducing its freshness.
A human should’ve been cleanly severed just moments ago.
Sniff sniff.
He activated the Butcher’s Smell.
Zarakan saw the man standing tall even after having his leg tendon cut.
He could smell him.
A familiar, mouth-watering scent.
He was human.
His bones and flesh were clearly that of a human.
“How are you still standing?”
The axe technique was off, but this guy was even stranger.
Zarakan had seen with his own eyes that the tendon was cut.
Any normal human wouldn’t be standing but crawling—and the amount of blood loss had already surpassed the limit.
Yet the guy stood there, poised, looking straight at him.
Zarakan thought today might be one of the worst days of his life.
‘Everything’s pissing me off.’
Even the look in this guy’s eyes irritated him.
That relaxed expression.
And eyes that looked as if they knew everything about him.
It felt like standing before a superior officer.
“A damn prey dares…”
Zarakan twisted his face and began imbuing black aura into both axes.
This time, the target would change.
Those golden eyes.
He planned to rip them out.
‘Just as expected, my recovery’s improved.’
Once Divine Hunter activates, all stats are enhanced.
And when I overlay Sacred Power, one of the Enchant attributes, over my body, recovery abilities are concentrated.
Even a cut tendon could recover quickly.
I read down Zarakan’s divine name list using his aura.
[Zarakan Muddin – Butcher (Scent)]
[Butcher’s Smell]
[Precise Dismemberment]
[Condensed Flesh Mass]
The ability I sealed with an arrow was [Precise Dismemberment]. I had dulled his sharp axe swings to reduce the risk of attack, but there was a variable—
His toughness.
“So, you weren’t just fat.”
[Condensed Flesh Mass] was tougher than expected.
The recent knee strike had the force of Burst Strike behind it.
It struck his chest with explosive power, and though he vomited blood, it wasn’t a fatal wound.
His thick mass of flesh absorbed the shock well.
[Your attacks are light.]
“That guy’s just heavy.”
[You’ll face even worse enemies from now on.]
Indeed, now that I’m in Hell Grime, the difficulty has changed.
[Quanru’s destructive power comes from rotation. Rotation requires two things: weight and speed. You have speed, but lack weight.]
“There are many ways to compensate for that missing weight.”
I resummoned the dismantled Bloodsucking Ring. Earlier, I couldn’t use it because Samuel had been caught, but not now.
Tutu-tutu-tutung!
Ten arrows launched into the air.
A fan-shaped barrage of crimson arrows rained down.
The fatty swung his axe to bat away the arrows.
Kwakwa-kwa-kwa-kwakwang—!
“......!”
At first, he staggered in shock from the explosion, but quickly adapted and charged like lightning through the arrow storm.
Even dozens of arrows didn’t stop Zarakan—he ignored the blasts and rushed forward.
That mass of flesh had formidable defense.
Kkiiiiiik!
I drew the bowstring and unleashed a Burst Strike.
A maximum-powered arrow formed instantly.
Thwong—!
Zarakan crossed both arms in urgency, blocking with his axes.
Kwoaaaang—!
The massive explosion swept him into the floor. As he flinched and rose again, I fired another max-powered arrow.
One, two, three, four.
A chain of massive explosions shook the underground canal.
“I’ve still got room…”
Pulling the bowstring, I felt confident in my growth.
In the past, using multiple Burst Strikes came with terrible side effects.
But after reaching 5-star rank, my divine list had changed significantly—not only were new entries added, some had evolved.
‘My synchronization rate with Reto also reached 60%.’
With a larger vessel and higher synchronization, the side effects of Burst Strike had drastically reduced.
How should I put it...
Now, counting how many times I use Burst Strike felt pointless.
It seemed more practical to count usage time per minute instead.
“About a minute and twenty seconds?”
I calculated the time and stopped attacking.
After a minute, I began feeling the creeping pain of muscle distortion.
The longer Burst Strike is maintained, the worse the side effects.
Wuuung!
I activated the Ring of Desire to suppress the rising backlash.
With the ring, I estimated I could fight using Burst Strike for up to two minutes.
Grrrgghhh—
The explosion I caused brought part of the canal down.
Water streamed in from all directions.
The floor quickly flooded.
“This won’t collapse completely, will it?”
“Did you finish him off?”
Samuel asked. I shook my head.
“Can you win?”
I gave a brief smile and drew my bowstring taut.
Arrows slowly formed.
As they absorbed blood, they grew larger.
Pushing aside rubble, Zarakan slowly reemerged.
I murmured,
“Reto, do we need more tests?”
[No, it’s enough. I’ve assessed your general physical condition. More to adjust than expected.]
“How is my body?”
[It’s not bad.]
Not bad?
Reto sure was stingy with praise.
I recalled my updated divine list.
[Arthur Clayton – Divine Hunter (Order)]
[Third Mental Barrier]
[Siren’s Hymn]
[Heart of Retonicalus (Sync Rate 60%)]
[Guide of the Allied Forces]
[Ring of Desire (Survival)]
[Leader of Hunt (4)]
[Benefactor of the Witch]
[Reto’s Spiritual Technique]
[Blessing of the World Tree]
[Blessing of Enchant (Sacred Power, Penetration)]
Upon reaching 5-star, my innate attribute had crystallized from Sacred Power to a more specific one—Order.
Some older entries evolved, like [Guide of the Allied Forces] and [Reto’s Spiritual Technique].
The newly added [Blessing of Enchant (Sacred Power, Penetration)] now made my enchantment ability more intuitive.
All this time, I had been using Zarakan to test my body's new condition.
It was a warm-up of sorts.
I now had a clear idea of Burst Strike’s limits.
Now it really began.
Covered in dust, the pig burst through the rubble.
Zarakan looked around and whistled. He was calling the scattered Cleaners.
He stared at me with murderous intent.
“Screw prey. I’m killing you first.”
“Think you can?”
“You think that crap works on me?”
Zarakan confidently bared his obese form.
“Your attacks only tickle.”
“This one’s going to sting a little.”
At that moment, the crimson aura within the arrow began turning blue.
A new enchantment.
Penetration.
Twung—!
I fired the arrow, dismantled the Bloodsucking Ring, and crouched low.
“Reto.”
A squishy sensation wrapped my body in a transparent fluid.
I activated Spiritual Technique, and soon blue light flooded over it.
The energy of Penetration infused my entire body.
The moment Zarakan’s axe met the blue arrow, my new form burst through space.
It was a ‘momentary acceleration’ through Burst Strike.
Puuhk—!
“Ggeaaahhh!"
The arrow, which Zarakan expected to explode on contact, pierced through his axe and embedded in his shoulder.
The Penetration arrow dug into his thick flesh, burst through his back.
As I appeared beside his twisted, pain-wracked side, Zarakan screamed and swung his axe.
Puuhk—
The axe struck my forehead. But his eyes filled more with confusion than joy.
“Why… why isn’t it sticking?!”
He finally noticed the Spiritual Technique covering my body and widened his eyes.
“You’re too late.”
I planted my foot on the ground and set my axis.
[Add speed to your lacking weight.]
I twisted my body and added rotation.
Giant Tribe’s martial art—Quanru.
A blue-infused fist spun, seeking its target.
The way to compensate for my lack of weight.
As my fist touched his side, I activated Burst Strike.
Bang!
A flash exploded through the air.
Ududuk!
My blue fist drilled into Zarakan’s side like an awl.
Ggeaaahhh!
The howling man vomited blood and staggered back.
I rained punches down on him.
My target: his face.
“Pupupupuppuk!!"
I relentlessly pummeled the stunned man’s face. Soon, it was unrecognizable.
Thud—
His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed backward. No movement in his chest.
Confirming Zarakan’s death, the golden light faded.
The effect of Divine Hunter disappeared.
I clenched and opened my fists, checking my condition.
[Your fists are light.]
“I heard that earlier too. But this isn’t bad, is it?”
[It would’ve been enough before. But your current body is unbalanced. The martial arts you’ve learned are mostly about one-hit kills. They favor charge over evasion, counter over blocking.]
“I understand.”
It meant I lacked the power to kill in one blow.
And failure in one-hit kills comes with tremendous risk.
[There are clear limits to supplementing it with Burst Strike. It will hold you back eventually.]
Burst Strike is a double-edged sword.
He was warning me to stay aware of its danger.
Moments later, Samuel cautiously approached, poked Zarakan’s back, and asked,
“He’s dead?”
“Yes, he’s dead.”
“Monst… I mean, did you always fight this recklessly?”
“No one’s ever called me reckless before.”
“Well, you are. Anyone would say the same.”
Thinking the danger had passed, Samuel stroked his mustache, finally relaxing.
Then he flinched and urgently shouted,
“Eh, Elton’s in danger! He should be nearby. We must rescue him now!”
“No need to worry.”
“What do you mean?”
I examined my slowly healing wounds and searched Zarakan’s corpse.
Then I said quietly,
“I’m not the only reinforcement.”