Chapter 88 – Shaping the Soul, a Voice of One's Own

Su Hao’s silver armor was covered in scars, only his two radiant eyes were visible.

The Human King, clad in golden armor, was covered in inscriptions from Su Hao’s ‘Glory of Runes.’ Now, his tattered, blood-splattered old face exuded an imposing aura.

Su Hao’s Short Blade dimmed slightly, then flickered with a dull gray light. The Runes still active on his Armor simultaneously activated.

The Human King also raised his Broken Blade, pointing it directly at Su Hao.

The Human King’s Blood Qi was still immense, about ten times that of Su Hao. Su Hao’s Blood Qi was dwindling, making it impossible to contend with the Human King head-on. However, he could use Runes to bridge some of the gap, and the outcome remained uncertain.

Su Hao moved first, charging towards the Human King and stomping his foot.

‘Earth Spikes!’

“Pfft, pfft, pfft!”

Numerous Earth Spikes suddenly erupted from the area around the Human King, who leaped into the air to evade.

This was exactly what Su Hao wanted. His ground speed was no match for the Human King, but once airborne, they were on equal footing.

Su Hao’s feet burst with power, propelling him towards the Human King.

The Short Blade glowed with a dull gray light, thrusting directly and simply towards the Human King’s face.

The Human King’s lips curved into a smile. It had been a long time since someone dared to challenge him like this.

With a gentle flick of his Broken Blade, he deflected Su Hao’s thrust and followed up with a horizontal slash at his waist.

Su Hao retracted his Short Blade to block.

“Clang!”

A powerful force struck him, sending Su Hao flying. He crashed to the ground, creating a deep gash.

“?!” Su Hao flipped up and landed steadily, preparing his defense, a flood of questions rising in his mind: Was the difference in strength that great?

However, protected by the three Runes ‘Barrier,’ ‘Hardness,’ and ‘Deflection,’ it wasn’t a major problem.

The Human King landed and immediately burst forward, delivering a powerful, heavy slash.

Su Hao dodged with a sidestep. Just as he was about to counter, he was met with the Human King’s large foot.

‘Bang!’

Su Hao was kicked flying, smashing heavily onto the ground, plowing a deep furrow before crashing into the dust. The Human King immediately followed up.

“Whoosh—”

In the span of a single breath, Su Hao, amidst flying debris and dust, suddenly appeared behind the Human King.

The Human King seemed to have already detected Su Hao’s presence. Without turning, he simply swung his Broken Blade backward horizontally.

‘Slipping Shadow Step!’

Su Hao suddenly flashed to the Human King’s other side.

‘Deceptive Stab!’

The Short Blade aimed at the armor’s gap and thrust.

“Clang!”

The Human King raised his gauntlet and deflected it, his punch undiminished, sending Su Hao flying again with one blow.

The moment Su Hao landed, he jumped up and attacked the Human King again.

Soon, Su Hao was sent flying by the Human King, experiencing what others felt when he beat them before.

After more than ten rounds of back-and-forth combat like this.

The Human King looked at Su Hao, who had climbed out of the rubble again, and said calmly, “If this is all your strength, then it ends here!”

Su Hao licked the blood from the corner of his mouth and said, “It’s more than that! Bring it on.”

The Human King’s eyes widened in anger, and he charged at Su Hao, “Air Piercing Blade!”

Su Hao also lunged straight at the Human King.

‘Corrosion Liquid!’

A large mass of green substance, half mist and half liquid, was sprayed towards the Human King.

The Human King redirected his blade to a horizontal sweep, fanning away all the green substance, and then slashed at Su Hao with another backhand strike.

Su Hao blocked the attack with his blade while activating the prepared Rune.

‘High-Pressure Electric Shock!’

‘Crack~’

A large amount of electric arcs transferred from the Short Blade to the Human King’s Broken Blade, then spread through his armor to his entire body.

The Human King’s eyes bulged, his body stiffened and became paralyzed, losing control.

Su Hao closed the distance, his Short Blade flashing with various status-enhancing lights, and thrusting towards the Human King’s eyes!

‘Deceptive Stab!’

“My body won’t obey!” The Human King looked at the approaching blade tip, his eyes about to burst.

The veins on his neck bulged, and with a slight Burst of Blood Qi, he slightly turned his head, avoiding the vital point of his eyes.

Su Hao’s Short Blade directly pierced the Human King’s eye socket!

“Clang!”

However, after Su Hao’s Long Blade pierced the skin, it then pierced the skull, but got stuck, unable to advance further.

At this moment, the Human King’s face was covered in dense golden patterns.

He swung his Long Blade, slashing towards Su Hao.

Su Hao immediately let go, flipped, and retreated.

“Hardness! The Human King’s core Beast Pattern is Hardness! No wonder he could survive the explosion’s edge of ‘Eight-Hundred Explosions’!” Su Hao was shocked internally. This surefire stab had been blocked.

‘Penetration’, ‘Harmony’, and ‘Sharpness’ combined with ‘Oscillation’ effects, after penetrating the skin, were blocked by bone. Although the bone also shattered slightly from the penetration, it was meaningless if it couldn’t completely pierce and kill.

The Human King gradually recovered, regaining control of his body. Blood streamed from his forehead, but he didn’t even blink.

The Human King laughed heartily and praised, “This Rune is indeed interesting. I almost died, hahaha!”

Then he stared at Su Hao and said, “Since you missed the chance, you will never have another!”

Su Hao smiled, “Not necessarily. If I could create one opportunity, I can create a second!”

Su Hao’s Short Blade was thus stuck in the Human King’s head. The Human King ignored it, raised his Broken Blade, assumed an offensive stance, and slowly said, “Wayfarer, I appreciate you more and more! However, you don’t even have a sword now, how will you fight me? This is the end!”

“Bang!”

The gravel beneath the Human King’s feet exploded, and he vanished from the Yuan land.

Although the Human King disappeared from Su Hao’s vision, his massive Blood Qi was still within his Radar.

The Human King had already appeared behind him!

“Too fast, no time to block!” Su Hao was shocked and immediately activated ‘Barrier’, ‘Hardness’, ‘Deflection’, ‘Oscillation’, and ‘Strong Light’.

“Clang—crack—”

‘Bang!’

Su Hao was once again sent flying with great force, his Armor beneath his nape almost cut open.

Su Hao flipped up, swallowed the blood in his mouth, stared at the Human King, and said with lingering fear, “You’re quite formidable too! I almost died as well!”

Human King: “!!!”

The Human King laughed heartily with his aged voice, “Hahaha—” For him, this was a very interesting experience. It had been many years since anyone dared to provoke him like this.

At his age, he had long seen through many things and was not angered by this. Instead, in Su Hao, he seemed to see the youthful vigor of his own youth, as if traversing through time.

Su Hao took this opportunity to use a Healing Rune to temporarily suppress his injuries, contemplating how to defeat the enemy before him.

This was the strongest opponent he had encountered so far.

After the Human King became serious, he seemed to have no power to resist. If he wasn’t careful, he would die on the spot.

“What should I do? My Blood Qi is running low!” Su Hao’s mind raced, and he quickly devised a strategy after spotting the Short Blade on the Human King’s forehead.

“I still need to rely on high-pressure Electric Shock. I’ll increase the output this time! The Human King can’t break my defenses anytime soon. I’ll create an opportunity through a prolonged fight!”

“Here I come again!” Su Hao roared, swinging his fist and activating his Rune as he charged towards the Human King.

“Strong Light!”

Taking advantage of the blinding flash of Strong Light, Su Hao launched a fierce assault on the Human King.

“Clang clang clang!”

“Bang~”

“Boom—”

However, after a dozen exchanges, Su Hao was largely overwhelmed by the Human King’s relentless onslaught. He was either cleaved away with a sword or kicked away, sending debris flying everywhere. Su Hao found it increasingly difficult to land an attack on the Human King.

The reason Su Hao could always get back up was the effectiveness of his defensive Rune. Even with the Human King’s full-force slashes, he couldn’t break through the ‘Barrier’, ‘Hardness’, ‘Deflection’, and ‘Oscillation’ effects Su Hao had applied to his Armor in a single blow.

“Hoo~ Hoo~”

Su Hao crouched in a defensive posture, his heavy breaths audible from beneath his mask.

The Human King, showing no signs of strain, said to Su Hao with a hint of pride, “Wayfarer, give up your struggle! You are no match for this King.”

Su Hao panted heavily, “I admit your strength, but the final outcome is yet to be decided!”

The Human King snorted coldly, “Still hoping for a chance? That’s wishful thinking.”

Su Hao’s breathing gradually steadied. After casting a Healing spell on himself, he said slowly, “Human King, the power of Runes holds infinite possibilities.”

The Human King’s expression darkened. He said coldly, “Hmph! Then let this King see where your infinite possibilities lie.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the Human King, holding his Broken Blade, suddenly flashed in front of Su Hao. Su Hao barely had time to block before being sent flying by a sword strike.

“Boom—”

He carved a long gash in the ground before coming to a halt.

Su Hao rolled over and stood up. A large amount of blood spurted from under his Mask, soaking into his Armor along his neck, with some even flowing onto his chest plate.

Without giving Su Hao any time to recover, the Human King reappeared before him and swung his sword.

“Now’s my chance!!!”

“Ground Trap – Earth Spikes!”

“Clang!”

Human King’s Broken Blade struck Su Hao’s chest armor right in the center, cutting through it and drawing blood, then sent Su Hao flying again!

The next moment, the ground beneath Human King’s feet suddenly gave way, leaving him with nowhere to brace and falling. At the same time, large Earth Spikes rose around him, blocking the Cave Entrance.

But Human King wasn’t flustered; he had the Sky Walking combat skill, which could briefly alter his falling trajectory.

However, Su Hao had been waiting for this moment for a long time. How could he let such an opportunity slip away?

As Human King broke through the Earth Spikes and reached the ground, Su Hao was already holding a massive rock, smashing it down upon him.

‘Bang!’

Human King was struck directly on the head, letting out a cry of pain, and plummeted downwards like a cannonball.

Su Hao immediately activated his second Rune.

‘Mega-Earth Spikes’!

An Earth Spike suddenly shot out from the bottom of the pit, precisely hitting Human King. However, it was blocked by the ‘Hardness’ of Human King’s ArmorHarmony.

But Su Hao didn’t intend to kill Human King with the Earth Spike; instead, he used its massive impact force to launch Human King upwards.

‘Bang!’

Human King suffered another heavy blow, propelled upwards by the Earth Spike! As he ascended towards the surface, he was met by Su Hao’s long-prepared ‘High-Pressure Electric Shock’!

This Electric Shock was even more powerful than the last, exhausting almost all of Su Hao’s Blood Qi.

‘This move again, damn it!’ Human King’s pupils contracted, but it was already too late to dodge.

‘Crack~’

A large amount of Lightning struck Human King, causing his entire body to stiffen, rendering him unable to control it!

As he struggled with all his might, he saw Su Hao cross his arms into a fist, leap high into the air, and smash down with force!

‘Bang!’

Su Hao slammed his fists down, hitting the hilt of the Short Blade on Human King’s forehead!

‘Crack crack—Pfft!’

The tip of the blade pierced through the back of Human King’s head!

Before the Human King could even sigh, his consciousness instantly plunged into darkness, and his body fell heavily into the pit.

Su Hao, however, landed on the edge of the Cave Entrance, lost his footing, and fell to the ground.

His whole body felt weak and powerless, but he still laughed heartily: “Hahaha! I won!”

“Pfft! Cough cough”

Laughing too hard, he suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.

Su Hao simply sat down, not intending to leave the place immediately.

Because, all around him, were now warriors who had chased him from Harmony’s Capital City. It seemed he couldn’t escape!

His ears were ringing, and he couldn’t hear what they were saying. He only knew they were furious, raising their Long Blades, pointing their blades at him.

“Heh~ Hahaha!” Su Hao chuckled lightly, then, ignoring the blood spurting from his mouth, he threw his head back and laughed.

He forced himself to stand up, jumped into the pit, pulled his Short Blade from the Human King’s head, and then tried to climb out of the pit…

However, he found he was completely exhausted and had no strength to climb up. So, he bit the Short Blade in his mouth and slowly climbed.

Finally, he stood before the assembled warriors, pointed his Short Blade forward, and shouted: “I killed the Human King! Come on! Fight me!”

The warriors, with bloodshot eyes, charged at Su Hao.

‘Hardness’ ‘Sharpness’…

Su Hao barely managed to activate two Runes, then charged forward as well!

In the chaos, he didn’t know how many people he had killed, maybe none, maybe some. He didn’t know how many times he had been struck.

He only knew he kept swinging his Short Blade until all his strength was drained, until his consciousness plunged into darkness!

…

It ends here…

But, I’m content!

He couldn’t choose how he died before. But in this world, he had a choice!

He was no longer that weak and helpless person. He was starting to have the right to voice his own true feelings.

He had been holding back for so, so long! He needed to vent his emotions, to vent them regardless of the cost.

He had to prove the meaning of his existence. He had to prove that the knowledge he desperately studied and explored was meaningful.

Otherwise, he didn’t know when in the future he would get lost in endless reincarnations, eventually becoming a soulless, will-less, faithless walking corpse.

A shell with vast knowledge, but no will of its own!

“If only I had a few more years…”

(End of Chapter)