Chapter 59

Cho-i quickly retreated from the spot. The place where she had just been standing was deeply indented. Cho-i rolled her tongue in her mouth, feeling for her fangs.

‘He’s not as easy as I thought.’

The Black Hands she had summoned were still abundant all around. She commanded the Black Hands.

“Catch that bastard!”

The Black Hands began to chase Gihyeon Park at her command. Thanks to her training with Taehyeok Sa, she had become somewhat capable of controlling the Devil’s Hand, reaching a level where she could avoid being attacked herself and issue simple commands. The Black Hands began to swarm over Gihyeon Park.

“Damn it, these annoying things!”

Gihyeon Park struggled to shake off the things that were scratching him and gripping at his skin as if tearing it. But the black arms wouldn’t let him go, only digging their claws deeper into his skin and clinging to him. When his entire body was covered in Black Hands and only one eye was visible, Cho-i felt her skin regenerating and immediately ran towards him. Now was the opportune moment. Once Gihyeon Park’s limbs were bound by the Black Hands, he wouldn’t fall for the same trick again. Cho-i lunged at him once more, raising her fist high. Gihyeon Park’s eyes twisted fiercely. And in an instant. Boom-!! He, Gihyeon Park, exploded. Flames enveloped his entire body, and the aftermath caused all the Black Hands to fall off him. Cho-i was also caught in the explosion and sent flying far away.

“Gah!”

She hit a large rock and coughed up blood. The damage was that severe. Cho-i tumbled to the ground and gasped for air. Her lungs were burning. Every breath felt like flames. She tried to somehow push herself up from the ground and saw that the skin of her left hand was completely burned and distorted. And then, the pain belatedly surged.

“Ah, aaah!”

“This crazy bitch, I give her an inch and she takes a mile.”

He, looking like a human embodiment of Flames, slowly walked over. Cho-i’s left arm and most of her left side were burned by the fire. Her leather clothes were half-burnt or stuck to her skin, and some areas were already blistering. Thud, thud. She heard his footsteps, but Cho-i couldn’t get up from the ground. Her body was so hot and painful. In this situation, where even the blowing wind was hot, she could only writhe in pain.

“Did you think it would work in the first place?”

Gihyeon Park looked at her, still unable to get up from the ground, and then kicked her in the stomach. Ugh, she hit the rock again. Bang, thud, merciless violence rained down on her body. Cho-i curled up, enduring the pain. Even her skin touching itself when she curled up was agonizing. She thought in the pain of burning flesh and breaking bones, “Why am I being beaten like this here?” She had her eyes wide open and her head covered. Her mind, flooded with adrenaline, spun rapidly and once again returned to the advice Taehyeok Sa had given her.

‘If you go for one-on-one Melee Combat, you have no chance of winning.’

Why? Because there was no way she could endure the burning pain. Indeed, she was directly experiencing how agonizing the burning pain was. But, she thought, what good would it do for me, a tank, to attack him while avoiding him? What is a tank? One who stands at the very front and takes attacks. One who must endure. One who must bear and persevere. This thought filled Cho-i’s mind.

‘Endure it.’

Wham!

“Gah!”

Once again, his kick landed in her stomach. In the burning pain throughout her body and the pain of broken ribs, she whispered to herself once more.

‘Endure it.’

She had returned from hundreds, thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of deaths. There was no pain she couldn’t endure. She muttered to herself as if hypnotizing herself and stood up.

“Oh, really?”

“Endure…”

I can endure it. Her dark eyes became even darker and deeper. He threw a punch at her as she stood up. Thud. Cho-i blocked his hand. Sizzle, something burned with a burning smell. She endured the pain with her eyes wide open. I can endure it.

“This…”

Once again, Flames erupted from his body as if exploding. Instead of moving away from him, she instantly lifted her foot and kicked him in the shin. Crack. A sound of something breaking was heard. He could only stare at her, who, even while burning in his Flames, did not back down and threw another punch. Because.

“How… !”

Thud! His face was hit with a punch. With that full-force punch, he staggered back a few steps. His mouth felt torn, and it seemed like he had lost a few teeth. When he spit out the saliva and teeth accumulated in his mouth, they immediately burned in the Flames and disappeared into ash. Cho-i Hyeon’s skin, standing nearby, was now completely distorted, making it difficult to call it a human form. She looked like a standing Dummy doll. But she clearly moved.

“Since when have I fought by running away?”

Cho-i’s pronunciation was slurred. It was because her lips were all burned and stuck together. She constantly burned, distorted, and regenerated. She once again ran at Gihyeon Park, supported his lower abdomen with her shoulder, and slammed him to the ground. Bang! With a loud noise, the ground began to blacken.

“Gah!”

He coughed up blood from his greatly compressed intestines. He was confused now. It was natural. Because no one had ever endured his Flames on the Island before. Even Taehyeok Sa only suppressed his Flames with Telekinesis; no one had ever attacked him by enduring them so extremely.

“Why?”

And words flowed from his parched lips.

“Does it finally seem like it’ll be fun?”

She endured. It was agonizingly painful, but she had to endure and overcome him. Cho-i thought, ‘Is there a reason I have to go through all this to defeat him?’ Cho-i smiled, having thought that far. The sight of her distorted lips smiling was incredibly bizarre.

“It’s obvious because I don’t like you.”

It was a pain that would have caused shock in anyone else. Yet, Cho-i could endure such wounds. Because of the memories of thousands, tens of thousands of painful experiences. They say humans are creatures of oblivion, so why are those memories so vivid for me? Cho-i climbed onto his body, which was sprawled on the ground, and clenched her fist. Then she forcefully struck his face with her fist, whose skin had all stuck together. Bam! Bam! Bang! Consecutive impact sounds erupted. He bled, but he wasn’t damaged enough to be considered defeated. On the other hand, Cho-i could faint at any moment.

Ding- A system window appeared before her eyes.

[The host’s pain has exceeded its limit!] [A skill is unlocked!] [Skill: Pain Sensation] [Stats temporarily increase. Pain Sensation…]

“What did you say…”

[Forcibly activating the skill, Liberation of Pain!]

“Wait…!”

Cho-i’s eyes widened, and she screamed. Below the skill description, it was written:

[Your stats temporarily increase by the amount of pain you feel. While using this skill, Pain Sensation becomes twice as sensitive.]

“Aaaah-!”

As she suddenly began to writhe, Gihyeon Park, who was pinned beneath her, seemed to see an opportunity. He grabbed her neck and threw her aside. With a thud, as she flew, he immediately got up and tried to attack her. If only she hadn’t been crying, with tears streaming down her eyes.

“It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts.”

She, who had endured any pain, was now in so much agony that she was losing her mind. She cried, scratching her burned skin with her blistered hands. A way to stop this pain. Her gaze rolled and stopped at Gihyeon Park. ‘If I kill him, it will end.’

[Measuring pain intensity…] [Pain intensity: MA-rankX] [Additional stats +999999…]

She instantly appeared in front of Gihyeon Park. He couldn’t even see her move with his eyes. It was as if she had suddenly teleported when he blinked. Cho-i swung her fist at him. KABOOM-!!! He raised flames to block the punch, but it wasn’t enough. He flew far away, knocking down a burnt tree. There was an insurmountable statistical difference. Gihyeon Park felt a wall for the first time. A wall he hadn’t even felt from Taehyeok Sa.

“You…!”

He lay sprawled on the ground, spitting blood and fumbling around. He wanted to get up somehow, but the damage from that one blow was too great. In the meantime, Cho-i had arrived in front of him, tears streaming from her dark eyes.

“It hurts.”

Her voice was severely cracked.

“Because of you. I.”

There was even a glimpse of deep hatred. Her body had regenerated in the meantime. White skin was clearly visible through the burnt leather clothing here and there. Could it be that a healer was attached? But that couldn’t be. If Myeongok Shin had been nearby, he would have noticed.

“Oh, your ability, that. Cough… !”

Cho-i was already half out of her mind and couldn’t hear him. It hurt so much that she wanted to scratch and tear at her whole body. She raised her foot. And aimed it at his head.

“So, die.”

It was a voice like a Devil from hell. It was not a human voice. Her burnt and dried vocal cords made a strange metallic sound. Gihyeon Park, with every bone in his body broken, lay there helplessly, unable to avoid it.

“Stop!”

Then Taehyeok Sa’s voice was heard.

“Gihyeon Park! Turn off the Flames!”

Cho-i’s foot was about to come down on his head. As the Flames went out, her foot stopped abruptly. The pain of regeneration enveloped her entire body.