Chapter 158 – Bodge (３)

The moment the halo of light burst from Gijun’s sword, the darkness that had consumed Bodge’s body smiled a curious smile.

[An interesting one. Using that power, despite being a mere human.]

The creature looked at Gijun, as if intrigued.

What was astonishing was that it showed not a trace of panic.

As if none of this would make the slightest difference.

[Did you think using that Strength would give you an edge against me?]

“…!”

Gijun flinched at the creature’s words.

It had read his mind—exactly.

The darkness caught Gijun’s reaction and let out a laugh.

[Keh, kehkeheheh… Simple, so simple. That’s why I like humans. Give them the tiniest scrap of power, and they puff up their shoulders like they’ve become something. You have no idea how delightful it is to watch—no idea at all.]

With that, the creature swung its hand wide toward Gijun.

In that instant, the light rippling over Gijun’s Sword vanished as if it had never been.

‘…What the hell.’

Gijun was more than a little shaken.

He’d never experienced anything like this before.

Seeing Gijun so rattled, the creature laughed again.

[Kuhahahahaha!]

Just moments ago, Gijun had been brimming with confidence—but now he had no choice but to sink into the same confusion.

The creature was clearly strong, and without the Light of the Seeker’s power, victory in this fight was anything but certain.

[Now then, what’s your next hidden card? Go on, show it to me.]

The creature even tossed out an extra, leisurely line.

His tone was certain—as if no card Gijun could draw would mean a damn thing.

‘What am I supposed to do?’

Of course, he wasn’t wrong.

Gijun himself was deeply rattled, and he couldn’t get even a hint of a grip on what to do next.

His thoughts were spiraling now.

With one of his biggest cards completely nullified, what was he supposed to do, and how?

‘No choice.’

But that didn’t mean he could give up on this fight.

If he backed down here, everything would be over.

He’d lose the Heart Fragment right in front of him, and it would fall into the Lord’s hands.

Hell, forgetting that—if he couldn’t even get past this creature, how the hell was he supposed to take down the Lord waiting beyond?

‘I just have to fight.’

So there was only one answer.

Clash head-on, plain and simple.

‘I need to figure out his weapon too.’

Even if he couldn’t see a solution right now, the creature had to have a weakness.

‘Nothing in this world is invincible, right?’

Thinking that, Gijun moved.

In that moment, a Fireball blazed toward the creature.

*

‘Pathetic wretch.’

The darkness that had consumed Bodge mused to itself.

‘He must have been riding high until now.’

The moment he first faced this so-called Seeker, he’d felt it.

The man had clearly won, over and over before now.

And in that endless string of victories, he’d obviously grown swollen with pride.

It was in every action, every gesture—he’d felt it all.

‘Keh-heh-heh….’

But that was over now.

Before him, the man would feel nothing but endless helplessness.

That was his greatest weapon of all.

Deep darkness.

His darkness wasn’t simply the absence of light.

It was a presence and a state at once.

His darkness devoured its target, eating away at body and mind, consuming everything.

Once you fell into that darkness, there was no escape.

‘The more you despair, the stronger I become.’

His epithet: the darkness that feasts on despair.

But there was a bigger problem.

‘Those inside the fortress will become my prey too.’

Klaim and Amalta had charged into the fortress.

They were in the same situation as Gijun.

‘I was never one.’

It was the literal truth.

He was here, and he was inside the fortress.

All darkness was connected as one.

For now, he was merely split into pieces, each one devouring the body of a Nuia.

‘You want to destroy me? Then you’ll have to destroy every single me.’

Unless he defeated every Nuia, destroying the darkness was impossible.

As he’d said, all the Nuia had lived in a deeper darkness for a long time, cradling an abyss within.

Then, a Fireball rained down on him.

‘Hmph.’

He swatted the Fireball away as if it were nothing.

Boom! Boom-boom-boom-Kaboom!

Though he’d used no special technique, Gijun’s Fireball was utterly powerless before him.

‘Thrash all you like. No matter what you do, you won’t even touch a single hair on my head…’

No physical attack. No magical assault.

None of it could harm him.

Of course, there was no reason to tell Gijun that.

The more Gijun thrashed in ignorance, pouring out all his power, the greater his despair would grow.

And at the same time, he would grow stronger.

‘Those who’ve never known failure—they’re the tastiest prey of all.’

A sinister smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

At that moment, another volley of Fireballs flew in. Once again, he detonated them all in midair as if it were nothing.

[Heh. Heh-heh-heh…]

*

Even under Gijun’s relentless assault, the darkness hadn’t taken a single point of damage.

No—beyond taking no damage, the bastard hadn’t even moved a single step from where he stood.

‘…There’s no way.’

Gijun’s attacks were so utterly helpless before him it was almost hollowing.

It wasn’t that there were no openings.

No, the bastard was riddled with openings.

It was as if he was deliberately exposing them.

‘Is he mocking me?’

Seen one way, it could only look like a blatant provocation.

You’d need absolute confidence that no matter what someone did, they couldn’t harm you—to pull an act like that.

‘Pathetic.’

Gijun thought.

It was a feeling he hadn’t had in a long time.

The emotions of the past, when no amount of effort or thrashing seemed to reveal any path forward, tried to surge up again.

But Gijun shook the thought off immediately.

“I decided I wouldn’t let the past chain me anymore.”

After his last spar with Kim Myeonghwan, Gijun had sworn to himself: no more being bound by what came before.

Sure, the old Gijun had always been drowning in despair.

He’d wallowed in self-pity, convinced he was the most wretched person alive.

But not anymore.

Now he looked forward, kept pushing ahead.

“Again.”

So there was only one thing to do now.

Keep clashing, keep pressing, find that bastard’s weakness.

Even if it had none — so be it.

If it truly was an opponent he couldn’t beat, then what could he, Gijun, do about it anyway?

“If it gets dicey, you’ll help me out, right?”

Gijun threw the words at Libre with a teasing tone.

[Hmph.]

Libre snorted dismissively, but she didn’t exactly say no.

Of course, Gijun had no intention of borrowing Libre’s help.

He wanted to carve through this wall with his own hands, no matter what.

Gijun cast Fireball again and launched it at the creature.

The Fireball screamed toward it.

The creature raised its hand once more, and with an almost casual gesture, detonated the Fireball in midair.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BA-BLAM!

The familiar thunderclap rattled Gijun’s ears again.

‘Again.’

Gijun flooded the air with another Fireball.

The instant it streaked toward the creature, Gijun moved too.

Closing the distance, he activated Nuia’s Illusion Sword technique.

BOOM-BOOM-BA-BLAM!

As the shockwave swept past, Gijun’s sword shot toward the creature.

Again, it reached out a hand, trying to block the blade.

But—

SHRAAACK!

“…?”

Gijun’s eyes went wide.

‘It landed.’

For the first time, his attack had actually connected.

Could the thing’s true weakness really be a sword?

No.

That couldn’t be it.

Maybe if the attack carried a light attribute — but the raw power of Sain-geom itself was nothing compared to his Fireball.

And yet, it was undeniable.

What mattered was that the creature had taken Damage from Gijun’s Sain-geom.

No matter the method, this proved he could actually hurt it.

‘Again.’

Gijun swung the sword once more.

Sain-geom arced in another strange trajectory, lunging toward the creature.

Its face twisted slightly, and it tried to dodge Gijun’s attack.

But it couldn’t.

Because of Nuia’s Illusion Sword technique.

SHRAAACK!

Once again, Gijun’s blade cut across the creature’s skin.

‘Got it.’

Gijun let out a breath of relief.

Two hits in a row.

That meant he actually had a shot at beating this bastard.

Sure, it might still be too early to celebrate.

But even a sliver of hope was unmistakably uplifting.

A smile crept onto Gijun’s lips.

Just then.

[This bastard….]

The creature let out a guttural snarl, its gaze locked onto Gijun.

A reaction worlds apart from the easy confidence it had shown until now.

Seeing that shift, Gijun felt his own strength surge in response.

[Insolent!.]

The creature thrust a hand toward him.

Watching that hand close in at terrifying speed, Gijun moved his feet.

Crack!

Where the creature’s hand had been, a black shockwave erupted—but Gijun dodged it without much trouble.

And that wasn’t all.

The moment he put distance between them, Gijun cast Strong Wind and Orca’s Footsteps.

In the same breath, a fierce wind pressure coiled around the creature’s entire body.

SHINK SHINK SHINK SHINK SLASH!

“…!!”

Got it.

Once again, fountains of black blood erupted violently from every inch of the creature, spraying into the air.

‘I don’t know what changed….’

But it was certain.

Something had shifted. Gijun’s attacks were starting to land.

The distance between Gijun and the creature widened.

Gijun cast Fireball again.

‘If Strong Wind and Orca’s Footsteps are dealing damage now, then Fireball should work too.’

That thought proved exactly right.

The moment Fireball slammed into the creature again….

[K-KRAAAAAAAGH!]

The creature let out a scream of agony, a sound it had never made before.

[Y-You… You bastard…!]

Gijun didn’t stop.

This time, he warped the shape of Fireball and poured it toward the creature.

The Fireball, now reshaped into the form of arrows, streaked through the air toward it.

CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK BOOM!

The transformed Fireballs pierced straight through the creature’s body.

In an instant, ten holes bloomed across its form.

[KYAAAAAAAGH!]

Once more, the shadow let out a howl of torment.

At that moment,

RUSH!

“…!”

Light began to burst from Gijun’s Sain-geom once more.

‘It’s back.’

Which meant the power of the light, erased by the creature, had returned.

[D-Damn it… Damn it all!]

The creature spat curses at the sight of Gijun’s glowing Sain-geom.

It swung its hand again.

Trying to snuff Gijun’s light.

But it was pointless.

Gijun’s light didn’t fade.

Seeing this, Gijun smiled.

‘Time to start over, then.’

The tables had turned.

The moment when it was clear that the tide had finally swung in Gijun’s favor.