Chapter 60 – Stimulus

The core of Hundred-Man Slaughter lies in one-on-one combat and life-and-death duels.

Summoning spirits violates the one-on-one rule, so participants in the duel must face each other solely with their own power.

However, allowing a 7-Star or higher spirit to possess one’s body is permitted.

“This duel is a life-and-death duel. It ends only with the opponent’s death. A kill order will be issued to anyone who attempts to flee alive, so only those prepared to stake their lives should step forward.”

The Evil Spirit Mask mentioned the rules of the life-and-death duel and issued a warning, but none of those gathered stepped back.

“Also, those weaker than Lee Hanseong are not qualified to participate in the life-and-death duel. Lee Hanseong, reveal your Star Rank.”

“I myself am 3-Star, and my highest spirit is 5-Star.”

Since the opponent in a Hundred-Man Slaughter duel must be stronger than the challenger, the qualification to challenge is granted starting from those who are at least 3-Star Awakened and have contracted with a 6-Star or higher spirit.

However, as all the Mid-Rank Awakeners gathered here had reached at least 4-Star, no one was restricted by the qualification.

“Good. Then, who will fight Lee Hanseong first!”

“I shall go first.”

In response to the Evil Spirit Mask’s question, a fox-masked kimono-clad female ghost, a Yokai Fox, stepped forward first.

Among the Mid-Rank Awakeners gathered here, she was in the lower ranks in terms of strength, but she believed she was stronger than Lee Hanseong.

Since Hundred-Man Slaughter is a consecutive battle format, it’s advantageous to step forward later, waiting for the challenger to tire, but at Lee Hanseong’s level, stepping forward first wasn’t a bad choice either.

“Then, begin!”

Once the first life-and-death duel opponent was decided, the Evil Spirit Mask nodded and declared the start of the duel.

Whoosh!

Simultaneously with the start of the life-and-death duel, the Yokai Fox invoked Divine Possession with the 7-Star yokai spirit, the White-Faced Golden-Haired Nine-Tailed Fox.

A pinkish energy undulated around her.

It was the seductive aura of the Legendary Skill <Nation-Toppling Beauty>.

The pink mist, divided into nine streams, looked like the swaying tails of a nine-tailed fox.

‘It’s a pity I can’t summon other spirits due to the one-on-one rule, but this should be enough.’

With a bewitching smile, the Yokai Fox began to seduce Lee Hanseong, accompanied by a captivating aura that enthralled men.

‘Please die for my wish.’

* * *

Lee Hanseong couldn’t help but doubt his eyes for a moment.

Because suddenly, the Yokai Fox’s appearance had transformed into a beauty as stunning as Mirinae.

No, to be precise, the direction of the memories and emotions he held for Mirinae was being forcibly redirected toward the Yokai Fox.

‘Is this the power of a Great Yokai, classified alongside Otakemaru and Shuten-doji as one of Japan’s three great evil spirits!’

He clenched his teeth and firmly held onto his consciousness.

If he were in a Constellation Descent state, he would have ignored such enchantment, but now that Mirinae had left, his mind wasn’t strong enough to withstand the allure of a 7-Star spirit.

Just looking at her made him dizzy, his mind twisting.

‘Mirinae….’

Calling Mirinae’s name inwardly, he tried to resist the manipulated memories as much as possible, but if this continued, forgetting Mirinae was only a matter of time.

Anger surged at the sensation of his memories and emotions being manipulated in real-time, but even that anger was forcibly suppressed.

If not for the Primordial Chaos Gang Qi enveloped in his Demon Armor, he might not have even been aware of this change and become the other’s slave in an instant.

“Hohoho. Won’t you give me the Heavenly Demon Medallion?”

Seeing him standing there dazedly, the Yokai Fox, perhaps thinking her enchantment had taken hold, made her request leisurely.

No, that voice itself seemed to be an Awakening Skill, amplifying the power of seduction.

The Nine-Tailed Fox’s Third Awakening Skill 《Heavenly Maiden’s Jade Voice》.

The Yokai Fox’s voice echoed in his mind, accelerating the distortion of his consciousness.

Tremble, tremble.

Lee Hanseong shook his hand as if resisting with all his might.

Yet, he couldn’t stop his hand from slowly moving toward the Heavenly Demon Medallion.

If this continued, he would hand over the medallion and be toyed with until death by the Yokai Fox.

Now, even Mirinae’s name was becoming blurry.

—Mirinae. That is my True Name. You’ll probably forget this too, but still, if a miracle happens and you remember, I’d be happy.

Suddenly, the Constellation’s last words from before the Regression came as an auditory hallucination.

Thanks to that, for just a brief moment, his mind cleared as if cold water had been splashed on his head, allowing him to regain control of his body.

‘Again… are you going to make me forget?!’

Seizing that opening, he detonated the Primordial Chaos Gang Qi at full power in his head, which was being contaminated by the Nine-Tailed Fox’s seductive energy seeping in.

Bang!

It regenerated immediately due to Narrow Escape from Death, but one of his ten lives was lost.

However, sacrificing a life yielded results.

‘The creative power of Primordial Chaos reacts to external stimuli.’

The characteristic of Primordial Chaos Gang Qi is adaptation.

Need inevitably leads to the development of new abilities.

Having died once, the Primordial Chaos Gang Qi expelled the seductive energy of Nation-Toppling Beauty, granting him resistance to enchantment.

Whoosh.

Based on that newly formed resistance, the Primordial Chaos Gang Qi flowing throughout his body reacted to the White-Faced Golden-Haired Nine-Tailed Fox’s enchantment, connecting parts of the spirit’s Skill Circuits engraved on his body.

It was a sign of Skill integration.

[Conditions met. <Fatigue Ignore> and <Endurance> integrate.]

[Rare Skill <Indomitable> forms.]

[Conditions met. <Immovable Heart> and <Concentration> integrate.]

[Rare Skill <Unwavering> forms.]

Indomitable, resisting physical invasion, and Unwavering, resisting mental invasion.

With the formation of these two Rare Skills, he could shake off most of the Yokai Fox’s enchantment.

This resistance was possible because the skills, amplified by Eightfold Annihilation, were effectively elevated by one grade each.

“Why have you stopped? You must give me the Heavenly Demon Medallion.”

Rustle— rustle—

Perhaps feeling that the Heavenly Maiden’s Jade Voice alone was insufficient for seduction, the Yokai Fox approached directly, lightly touching Lee Hanseong’s body to increase the intensity of the seduction.

Clearly, it was touching over his armor, but with each touch of the Yokai Fox’s hand, a creepy sensation as if touching bare skin made his strength drain and his mind grow hazy.

The Nine-Tailed Fox’s Fourth Awakening Skill 《Delicate Jade Hands》.

These touches also seemed like an Awakening Skill, but they only provided new stimulation to the Primordial Chaos Gang Qi.

[Conditions met. <Indomitable> and <Unwavering> integrate.]

[Unique Skill <Unyielding Indomitability> forms!]

If before, with Indomitable and Unwavering, the best he could do was endure passively,

now, with Unyielding Indomitability obtained, his mind had cleared to the point where he could ignore the Yokai Fox’s seductive energy and attack.

Whoooosh!

As soon as his mind regained some clarity, he fused the Gluttonous Demon Sword as a Treasure Vessel with the Heaven-Slaying Demon Sword.

The Divine Artifact Devouring Heaven Demon Sword devoured the seductive energy filling the surroundings and slashed at the Yokai Fox, who was caressing him up close.

Whoosh.

However, the swung sword only cut through empty air.

Of course, the pink seductive energy that had filled the path of the demon sword was devoured by Devouring Heaven and converted into power to maintain Transcendence.

But the Yokai Fox’s true form was not there.

‘An illusion!’

The Nine-Tailed Fox’s illusion art is quite famous, so he couldn’t let his guard down.

While Unyielding Indomitability could block direct interference with his mind and body, it was difficult to block sensory confusion like this.

“Kyaaak! Trying to cut me is too much!”

“Where are you looking!”

“Look here!”

The Yokai Fox’s voice came from all directions.

Her figure also repeatedly appeared and disappeared here and there.

The Nine-Tailed Fox’s Fifth Awakening Skill 《Heavenly Illusion Art》.

The Nine-Tailed Fox’s yokai art, capable of deceiving the heavens, was unfolding.

Sara-rak! Sara-rak!

The sound of clothing rustling grew loud, while footsteps became almost silent.

The sense of distance for sound and sight collapsed.

Amidst senses filled with confusion, Lee Hanseong simply closed his eyes and covered his ears.

And he recalled the Sword Demon from his dreams.

His perfect movements, still vividly remembered.

“Hooooo.”

Starting with the Sword Demon’s breathing, he began to imitate his gait and the trajectories of his sword swings one by one.

He didn’t care where the Yokai Fox actually was.

Because the Sword Demon’s swordsmanship was designed to cover all directions to eliminate Void Gods swarming from everywhere.

If you don’t know what’s real, just attack everything.

Chwa-chwa-chwa-chwa-chwa-chwa-chwa-chwa-chwa!!

The Demon Armor, reproducing the ability of Perfect Body Control, materialized the movements engraved in his mind into reality.

Freely alternating between Slashes and Thrusts, drawing unpredictable trajectories—his swordsmanship!

That swordsmanship was something even the Yokai Fox couldn’t ignore, preventing her from rashly approaching.

[Conditions met. General Skill <Thrust> evolves into Rare Skill <Gap Strike>.]

Merely mimicking it, just as Slash had evolved into Grain Cut, Thrust also evolved into a Rare Skill.

And as Slash and Thrust reached the same level.

Sasa-sasa-sak!

[Conditions met. <Grain Cut> and <Gap Strike> integrate.]

[Unique Skill <Absolute Sword Art> forms.]

The two techniques naturally merged, giving birth to a swordsmanship specialized in targeting flaws and weaknesses, severing the opponent’s Veins.

Additionally, to use Absolute Sword Art, the prerequisite was an Eye of Insight capable of discerning the opponent’s flaws.

Hwa-ak!

Naturally, Insight Type skills were also stimulated and achieved integration.

[Conditions met. <Lie Detection> and <Trap Detection> integrate.]

[Rare Skill <Truth-Feint Detection> forms.]

[Conditions met. <Truth-Feint Detection> and <Insight> integrate.]

[Unique Skill <Mind’s Eye> forms.]

The Mind’s Eye thus formed began to see through even the Yokai Fox’s illusion art.

“There you are.”

Chae-jae-jae-jae-jae-jae-jae-jeng!

His swordsmanship concentrated in the direction where the Yokai Fox’s true form was.

However, he had only targeted the opponent; no effective hits had landed yet.

Because the Yokai Fox had parried all his attacks.

“Hohoho. If you thought you could defeat me just by seeing through the illusion, you were mistaken.”

‘Indeed, even excluding the illusions, she’s not easy to handle.’

Each time his sword clashed with the Yokai Fox, the recoil transmitted to his grip was not insignificant.

As expected, the physical ability of a Great Yokai couldn’t be ignored.

Despite the enhancement effects from Body Reformation, which granted an excellent physique to begin with, combined with Demon Armor, Eightfold Annihilation, Transcendence, and Primordial Chaos Gang Qi, his strength, barely elevated to near 7-Star Rank, was being pushed back.

That was the power of a being who had reached 7-Star as a non-human.

‘But, I will win.’

Lee Hanseong was not anxious.

He believed that even if he was pushed back for now, ultimately, he would be the one to win.

Because each time the impact of clashing with the Yokai Fox’s claws or tails against his sword reverberated through his body, the Primordial Chaos Gang Qi was stimulated, also connecting the Skill Circuits acting on his physical body itself.

[Conditions met. <Stamina Enhancement> and <Lung Capacity Enhancement> integrate.]

[Rare Skill <Stamina Major Enhancement> forms.]

His stamina increased further.

[Conditions met. <Physical Enhancement> and <Zombification> integrate.]

[Rare Skill <Ghoulification> forms.]

Death energy flowed through his living body like an Undead, amplifying his physical abilities.

[Conditions met. <Poison Blood> and <Ghoulification> integrate.]

[Unique Skill <Vampirification> forms.]

The death energy characteristic of Undead combined with Poison Blood, and the Undead Factor that started from Zombie ultimately evolved to the level of a Vampire.

It was an evolution following the lineage of Zombie-type Undead.

Typically, Zombies start at 1-Star and evolve into Ghouls at 3-Star, and Ghouls evolve into Vampires with a True Name at 5-Star.

The Poison Blood flowing within his body was refined by Vampirification into True Blood, containing immense vitality.

As if sensing unease from his gradually increasing strength, the Yokai Fox’s smile faded.

“Could it be… you’re growing stronger while fighting me?”

‘This is the potential of the race that produced a 12-Star Apostle.’

While his overall physical specs increased, his regenerative ability was particularly overwhelming.

Regeneration capable of restoring even lost body parts.

Thanks to this, he could raise the limits of Eightfold Annihilation even higher.

Kugugugugugugugu!

The output of Starlight surging from within increased further, repeatedly cracking his body’s Vessel and being restored by the vampire’s regenerative power.

As he raised the Starlight output to a level where the balance between destruction from overload and regeneration wasn’t broken.

[Synchronization Rate with spirit rises to 250%.]

Both his physical abilities and the power of his skills became greater than before.

‘At this level, even consuming Starlight equivalent to an Awakening Skill won’t break the balance of Starlight within my body.’

For now, that was the limit, but the information contained in his blood indicated that as the level of his blood rose, the limits of that regenerative ability would increase even further.

Seureuk! Chwa-ak!

“Kyaak! How already…!”

With the momentum of Eightfold Annihilation, whose limits had expanded thanks to Vampirification, he pushed the Yokai Fox back.

His strength was now equal to or greater than hers.

While fighting, he even gained the leisure to comprehend the information contained in the vampire’s True Blood in a corner of his mind.

‘Hoh?’

If one becomes a 7-Star or higher Demi-God level noble vampire and obtains Sacred Blood containing Divinity, regeneration is possible even if the head and heart are destroyed.

And if one becomes an 11-Star True God, a True Ancestor, and achieves Divine Blood containing Authority, one becomes an existence that can revive even from a single drop of blood after the entire body is destroyed.

‘And, if one defeats Prometheus, the sole 12-Star True Ancestor and progenitor, and becomes the new progenitor, one can reign as the master of all blood.’

However, Vampirification didn’t only have advantages.

As commonly known vampire weaknesses, at the True Blood level, one becomes vulnerable to sunlight and divinity.

Moreover, a lower-ranking vampire is easily dominated by a higher-ranking one, which was problematic.

Especially those whose race was transformed by an existing bloodline often become slaves to that bloodline.

‘Well, the weaknesses disappear if I deactivate Vampirification, so it doesn’t matter.’

Temporary Race Transformation through a Skill can be toggled on and off at any time.

Furthermore, the blood formed this time was a new lineage created by the integration of Poison Blood and Ghoulification.

Except for the progenitor Prometheus, no vampire could directly dominate Lee Hanseong, who had undergone Vampirification.

Having finished his thoughts up to that point, Lee Hanseong refocused on the fight with the Yokai Fox.

“Kieeeek!”

While comprehending the information in the True Blood, the Yokai Fox, driven into a corner, revealed her true form as a Great Yokai.