Chapter 120

A powerful surge—

Everything in the vicinity was drawn in.

It was as if a massive vacuum had formed; an immense force was sucking everything into its core.

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

The earth seethed, and everything trembled violently.

This scorching heat!

The intense heat, strong enough to incinerate everything around it, unleashed a maelstrom of immense power. A furious tempest erupted!

The madly surging vortex tore through the undead, shattering them.

It mercilessly incinerated them, crushed them, and pulverized them.

This was the Power of Radiance, amplified by Pyromancer’s Deception!

BOOOOM—

A colossal tremor, as if a nuclear missile had detonated, utterly overturned the surroundings.

“Haa, haa…”

Amidst it all stood a single man.

He gasped for breath, gazing at the pandemonium he had wrought with his own hands.

A shiver—

His entire body trembled with a rising thrill.

His eyes beheld a devastation utterly unlike anything he had witnessed before.

Everything within a several-hundred-meter radius, centered on him, had been vaporized.

No corpses, no rocks, not even a single blade of grass remained.

Only a solitary crater, as if carved by a meteor strike, was left behind.

Kang Yuseong had regained an immense power at an unexpected time.

This was an awakening. Or perhaps, the blessing known as evolution.

Step.

Kang Yuseong took a step onto the colossal crater he had created.

So potent was the power unleashed that not a single stone in the vicinity remained intact.

In this place, where everything had been destroyed and shattered…

A grim twist appeared at the corner of Kang Yuseong’s lips.

He felt the sinister aura he’d sensed from afar violently shaken.

The enemy, it seemed, was thoroughly astonished.

And rightly so.

They must have realized the true extent of the Power of Radiance, the only force capable of opposing their dark might.

What was even more astonishing was that as the Power of Radiance grew stronger, all of Kang Yuseong’s abilities began to skyrocket.

‘Phantom Body…’

This was the realm of the Phantom Body.

A non-physical body would absorb the immense power that a human body could not withstand, allowing the physical body to gain incredible strength as a result.

When an immense power awakens and runs wild, the human body is torn apart, much like a small vessel shatters when a large rock is placed upon it.

However, the Phantom Body completely eliminated this drawback.

The Phantom Body was nothingness.

It was a state where the Phantom Body absorbed the side effects of immense power, while the destructive force imbued within that power could be fully utilized.

Right now, Kang Yuseong was entering that very stage.

There was another reason why the Phantom Body was crucial.

The Phantom Body was an essential process for advancing to the next stage.

In other words, Kang Yuseong was about to undergo another transformation.

Whoosh—

Kang Yuseong shot up from the crater.

But none of the undead dared to attack Kang Yuseong.

Even those who moved purely by instinct were paralyzed by primal fear, unable to do anything.

CRASH—

Kang Yuseong, who had soared into the air, landed back on the ground and charged forward.

Right there, before his eyes.

That was where the mastermind behind all this lay.

Thrum, thrum, thrum, thrum!

With his Phantom Body, Kang Yuseong’s movements defied the laws of physics.

He sprinted forward, experiencing minimal air resistance.

Thump—

Then, he suddenly halted his run.

Rumble—

Something stood tall before him.

It wasn’t just one.

Two.

One was a divine statue with a burly physique, wielding a massive iron pillar, while the other was a goblin-like creature with a horn sprouting from the center of its forehead and bulging eyes.

Kang Yuseong’s expression turned cold as he observed the two.

The divine statue resembled a Buddhist Yaksha, and the goblin-like creature was very similar to the Japanese yokai known as an Oni.

Kang Yuseong radiated killing intent as he looked at them.

Just as he suspected, the Yaksha-like statue was a Tengu, and the goblin-like creature was an Oni.

The colossal beings, standing defiantly before Kang Yuseong, glared with bulging eyes and snarled as if ready to devour him at any moment.

“I thought something was off, but now it’s clear.”

Kang Yuseong strode forward, step by step.

All these events unfolding now.

And the sudden ambush by the Tsukuyomi Attack Unit in the past.

None of it was disconnected.

In fact, they were so closely intertwined that Kang Yuseong was momentarily dumbfounded.

He finally understood the identity of the being beyond.

Beings he had heard reports about when he was a Monarch, but had dismissed.

The evil monks of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism, said to freely summon and control countless malevolent spirits buried in Yasukuni Shrine.

In the past, they had never directly shown themselves, which was why he hadn’t even thought of them until now.

But now, it was clear.

All these heinous acts occurring in Busan were their doing.

Unlike in the past, their appearance, rather than the Tsukuyomi Attack Unit, likely had a different reason.

Some reason, different from before, that forced them to step forward and reveal themselves.

But Kang Yuseong didn’t care.

Whatever it was, their fate would not change.

“Every last one of you…”

Azure flames flared in Kang Yuseong’s eyes.

How dare they not only set their filthy feet on this land but also use their wicked power to murder and ravage its people…

“I’ll slaughter you all.”

How many times had the Korean Peninsula been manipulated and defiled by Japan?

The fury Kang Yuseong felt, having to witness this land utterly crumble under their hands even now, was beyond imagination.

They were undoubtedly attempting some grand ritual here in Busan.

Using the lives of Busan’s citizens, turning the entire city into their sacrificial altar.

Grind—

Kang Yuseong gritted his teeth.

Why did such wicked and vile hearts never change?

Rumble, rumble, rumble—

The ground beneath his feet began to shake violently.

In response, the Oni and Tengu bared their fangs and snarled at him.

The Tengu’s iron pillar and the Oni’s iron club.

The two colossal beings threatened to bring them down at any moment.

But that was their fatal mistake.

CRASH—

Kang Yuseong stomped his foot hard on the ground, then shot into the air and launched himself at the creatures.

How dare they invade this land and try to act as its masters!

“Today, I’ll smash every last one of you!”

Shrieking!

CLANG—

Kang Yuseong’s sword tore through the air, lunging at the Oni.

The Oni quickly raised its iron club to block, but surprisingly, when Kang Yuseong’s tiny sword, compared to the club, struck, the Oni’s knees buckled dramatically for an instant.

Kang Yuseong didn’t miss the opportunity.

FWOOSH!

BOOM!

Kang Yuseong instantly hurled a fireball at the Oni, and as it exploded, he plunged deep into its embrace.

SLICE—

Then, he slashed his sword straight upward.

Unable to keep up with Kang Yuseong’s invisible speed, the Oni’s belly was instantly sliced open.

“KUEEEGH!”

The creature thrashed wildly in place, as if dying.

But its suffering was far from over.

SLICE! SLASH!

Kang Yuseong’s sword began to savagely hack at its belly.

It happened so fast that the Oni had no time to dodge or defend.

Blood splattered, and its intestines began to spill out through the torn flesh of its abdomen.

At that moment, the Tengu beside it let out a shriek and brought its iron pillar down on Kang Yuseong.

WHUMP!

Its strength was immense; a deafening roar echoed as the thick, massive iron pillar cleaved through the air.

CLANG! CRASH!

But then, something astonishing happened.

Kang Yuseong raised his left hand and blocked the attack.

Rough sparks flew, and a chilling metallic screech rang out, but Kang Yuseong looked up at the Tengu with an expressionless face. The Tengu, towering over ten meters tall, gnashed its teeth, but an unmistakable look of surprise was etched onto its face.

Kang Yuseong offered it a dry smile.

“Wait. Your turn will come soon enough.”

Then he ruthlessly thrust his sword upward.

SLICE—

“KUEEEGH!”

With that strike, the Oni’s belly was ripped open from near its navel all the way up to its chin.

A sickening stench of blood filled the air as black blood gushed out.

Hiss—Sizzle—

But astonishingly, as the blood neared Kang Yuseong, it simply vaporized.

The Power of Radiance was fundamentally a power of flame.

It was a power that incinerated all impurities and revealed holiness.

THUD—

The Oni collapsed in an instant.

Whoosh—

The sole remaining Tengu opened its eyes in shock, but before it could react, Kang Yuseong appeared right before it.

He had leaped a distance of over ten meters in a flash.

Coldness.

Killing intent.

And fury. Facing Kang Yuseong’s face, filled with these, the Tengu involuntarily recoiled.

But Kang Yuseong was not one to show mercy.

Thump—

Kang Yuseong launched himself through the air towards the Tengu.

Shimmering!

His sword, blazing with a brilliant golden radiance, tore through the Tengu’s chest.

SLASH!

With a flash of radiance that instantly swept past, the Tengu’s tough chest split wide open.

And another streak of radiance passed through it.

THUD—

“Gurgle!”

Simultaneously, the Tengu dropped its iron pillar and clutched its throat with both hands.

GUSH!

No matter how hard it tried to stop it, black blood spurted like a fountain from between its hands.

From the start, these creatures were no match for Kang Yuseong.

Perhaps if he hadn’t awakened, Kang Yuseong wouldn’t have defeated them so easily.

But Kang Yuseong’s awakening had become a disaster for them.

THUD—

Even the Tengu collapsed to the ground, twitching and trembling.

Sheath—

Kang Yuseong glanced indifferently at them, then sheathed his sword.

And he continued forward.

Ahead, the true enemy awaited.

* * * * *

The street was littered with countless cars, overturned or smashed and abandoned.

This street, which once would have looked incredibly affluent with its towering buildings and numerous foreign cars, was now shrouded in an eerie mist and ominous silence.

A strange incense, coupled with a desolate atmosphere, hung low to the ground.

Like an altar where wild beasts were slaughtered and their bodies offered to an evil deity, the street held no trace of living presence.

Yet, it was clear someone was there.

The somber, eerie voice that had been echoing for a while.

He didn’t know what was being chanted, but an evil-sounding recitation could be heard.

Just then, someone emerged, parting the mist.

No, to be precise, the mist seemed to recede on its own before the golden radiance emanating from his entire body. And as he appeared, the chanting that had been echoing moments before abruptly ceased.

Kang Yuseong gave a cold laugh.

“What? Were you begging Buddha for your life?”

The smile vanished from his lips, and cold killing intent flared in his eyes.

“But you shouldn’t do that. If I let you live…”

He slowly walked forward.

“…I’ll even cut down Buddha.”