49

Before he transformed, the man had attacked Zich and Snoc with a fighting style that was clear and precise but full of bloodthirst. However, after his transformation, his fighting style completely changed. He threw away his sword to the side as if it was a small stick and began fighting with only his body. There were no skills or techniques involved. He only used speed, power, and his tough skin—but with just these physical characteristics, he was able to drive Zich to a corner.

Crashhh!

The man tried to punch Zich but hit the ground instead. Rock pieces flew everywhere, and there was a huge dent in the rock. Zich, who managed to evade the man’s attack, distanced himself from the man.

Crunch!

The man stepped hard on the ground. His footsteps formed deep indentations on the rocks, and his body flew as if a ballista had thrown his body into the air.

Whish!

The man spread his palms and made some wide movements. His attacks were rudimentary and full of gaps. But the strength and speed of his massive arms far exceeded common sense.

Zich raised his sword to block the man’s attack.

Slammm!

The sound of a sword sharply clashing against human skin rang across the cave; it was hard to believe that it was the sound of a sword on human skin. Moreover, Zich’s sword began to bend from his opponent’s sheer strength, and he had to quickly focus on fusing mana into his wrists.

Punch!

The man was able to successfully push back Zich’s sword and hit Zich’s forearms. As if he was a broken puppet doll, Zich’s body flew to the side.

Slip!

Zich lost his center of gravity, but he managed to land on his two feet with relative ease. He fixed his posture.

Throb!

His arm that got punched ached. Zich tried moving his arms a few times.

‘It’s just a bruise.’

None of his bones were broken, and the pain from his arm was not so great that it would affect the flow of battle. However, the only reason why his arm didn’t break was because he protected himself with mana at the last second. If he hadn’t defended himself with mana, not only would his arm be broken, but several of his ribs would be broken too. Moreover, if he got hit in the same place multiple times, no amount of mana would prevent him from getting severly injured.

‘For now, this dude is stronger than me.’

Zich had no problem admitting this.

‘What is that? It’s a skill that I’ve never seen before. I’ve seen skills that increase strength before, but never as great as this. No, is this even a skill?’

Even if it was not a skill, Zich was sure that he had never seen something like this.

“What is that?” Zich just decided to ask outright.

“Fufufu! Are you beginning to feel afraid?”

“I’m just curious because I’ve never seen such a skill. Is that even a skill?”

“Of course, it’s a skill. If you are so curious, why don’t you try joining our organization? You will not only be able to satisfy your curiosity, but you will be able to make this skill yours.”

The man still hadn’t given up on recruiting Zich, but Zich snorted, “Why would I learn a skill that so obviously uses your own life force? I can get much stronger without depending on such skills.”

“I’m sure that’s true for someone like you.”

Even though Zich was young, the man was forced to use this technique to assure his victory. He could not imagine just how strong Zich would get when he got older.

However…

“But that’s only true if you manage to get out of here alive.”

The man had no intentions to let Zich go. Zich felt annoyed at the man’s absolute confidence over his victory.

“Okay, I admit it. Your strength is definitely above mine right now.”

Zich was not afraid to accept the reality of his situation, but that was all there was to it.

“Don’t you think it’s too early to be assured of your victory just yet?”

Before he regressed, Zich had fought countless battles. He had fought one-on-one battles, large-scale battles, and battles where he had to fight multiple enemies at once. There were times when he fought with people weaker than him, similar to him, and even stronger than him. But all of his battles had ended with the same result—

With his complete victory.

‘This is not even a dangerous situation.’

Considering all the suffering he had to endure until he gained the title, ‘The Demon Lord of Strength,’ this didn’t even count as a dangerous situation.

“I guess your confidence is still the same.”

“I’m too much of a genius to lose just because you were able to improve your skills a little bit.”

“I like people who are confident, but people who are arrogant are not my style.”

“It’s not arrogance. I’m only speaking the truth.”

“Okay. Then let’s see whether or not you are confident or arrogant.”

The man’s attack was like a missile. He merely pushed out his arms or legs and sometimes made attacks with his elbows or knees. Because it was hard to withstand his strength, Zich evaded most of the man’s attacks. However, the man’s speed pressured Zich more and more as time passed on. The few attacks Zich managed to inflict bounced off the man’s tough skin.

From a glance, Zich was being driven to a corner. Bruises and cuts kept piling upon his body.

“What are you doing? Is it really arrogance? It looks like you will be in trouble if you don’t start showing something new.”

The man mocked Zich. So far, Zich had not shown proper retaliation ever since his confident words about how a genius like him wouldn’t lose. After returning the man’s sarcasm with jokes, Zich was now silent and didn’t reply. The man judged that Zich didn’t even have the leisure to reply.

“I expected more from you, but I guess this is it. Well, you worked hard. Considering your age, you did really well. I am honestly surprised. The only thing you lack is time, but what can you do? The world is unfair.”

The man was going to make sure Zich never reached his full potential. After he tortured and medicated Zich to get information about how he knew about Nowem and their transfusion, time would no longer pass for Zich.

“I hope you reflect on yourself in that short amount of time before you die. Youth is all about progress—”

“You talk too much.” Zich finally opened his mouth to speak.

“Oh? You can talk now? I thought you became mute because you didn’t say anything. No matter how dire your situation is, isn’t it basic manners to reply when someone is talking?”

“I apologize. It’s because it took me a while to prepare. My control over my mana is still lacking, so I need to concentrate a lot.”

“Prepare?”

“Yeah. Preparation to destroy you.”

The man laughed as if Zich’s words were so ridiculous—he found them funny.

“Ahahahah! Have you still not woken up from your dream? That’s great! Let’s look at what you so carefully prepared!”

Crashhh!

The man moved straight towards Zich. It was a blunt and simple move, but the force of his movement was enormous. If Zich made even the slightest contact, several of his bones would break instantly. Compared to the man, Zich’s retaliation was frail and also very simple. A sword with barely any strength or force weakly pointed towards the man.

It was not even worth the man’s time to defend. The man ignored the sword on him and raised his fists up to land a punch.

Bang!

“Huh?”

The man let out a surprised cry as a blood bath erupted forth in front of him. He hadn’t even hit Zich yet, but why was so much blood coming out?

He blinked his eyes several times. Everything felt unreal, but when he lifted his arm up, the pain forced him to face reality.

“Ughh!”

The man cried and grabbed onto his arms. Blood began to pour out like a river from his rock-hard body. As if his arm burst from the inside, the arm that had tried to hit Zich was caved in. The man quickly withdrew due to his unexpected injury. Seeing that his arm lay limp on his side, he could tell that this was no laughing matter.

With great enjoyment, Zich watched the man fall into a state of shock and put his sword on his shoulders with ease.

“How is it? Do you like it?”

“H-How…!”

Zich’s attack was a weak stab, but it pierced the man’s arm completely. No, not pierced but exploded his arm.

“It’s called ‘mana resonance.’” Zich spoke as if mana resonance was not a big deal, but it was no small feat to be able to use it.

The concept of mana resonance began with the theory of ‘sensory expansion.’ By infusing the sword with one’s own mana, one could control it like it was a part of oneself. But Zich’s ‘sensory expansion’ went beyond his control of the sword. His control range went far past his weapon—

To even reach his opponent’s body.

“What kind of nonsense are you saying…!”

The man could not believe Zich’s words. He could not help it. What Zich was saying was too unbelievable—because this meant that Zich could control his opponents by merely touching them with his sword!

“That’s impossible!”

“It’s possible.”

Zich stabbed the man’s other arm. The man quickly tried to evade the attack, but he was too slow. He was still recovering from his injury and the shock of Zich’s words.

Bang!

“Ugh!”

The man’s other arm exploded.

“Right now, I don’t have that much control of my mana, so I have to stab the same area many times to get it going, but once I establish my mana resonance there, it’s all too easy to burst you like this.”

‘To think about it, this bastard only kept attacking me in the same spot…!’

The man thought this was Zich’s desperate ploy to pierce his tough skin. He did not imagine that it was Zich’s attempt to gain control of his mana flow.

“I can’t use this attack on people who are skilled at mana control, but you are nowhere near that level. Moreover, this attack is great on people who only know how to burst out mana like you.”

For that reason, Zich was able to easily get in contact with the mana coming off the man’s skin. After instilling mana resonance, Zich could make the man’s mana explode inside of him. Since all of the man’s extraordinary strength and speed came from his mana, once the mana flow flipped over to Zich’s control, the man was completely helpless against Zich’s attacks.

Zich continued to stab the same area. The man’s body continued to explode, and after a few moments, the man’s entire body turned into rags.

“Cough!”

The man coughed out blood. His bluish and pale complexion indicated how severe his condition was. But even in this condition, the man looked as if he was unable to accept his situation.

‘I can understand why.’

Mana resonance was one of Zich’s most notorious skills. There was no skill greater than this to crush the spirits of guys who believed in their strong defense and send them to hell. However, Zich was not pleased that he was forced to use this skill.

‘If I had full control over my mana, I could have just crushed him with sheer strength.’

Zich stopped reminiscing and focused his attention back to the man.

“I’m curious about a few things. Can you answer some of my questions?”

Zich was curious about the man’s identity and his organization. He wanted to learn more about the mysterious organization that used skills he had never seen before, but the man snorted and replied coldly. He dropped his use of honorifics.

“You think I will tell you?”

“No.”

Zich knew that people like him would not reply even with torture. If he had known this about the man, Zich would have saved some of his underlings to get some information.

“I can’t tell you about my identity or tell you anything about Snoc.”

“Ah, you don’t have to tell me anything about Snoc.”

“If you try to force a transfusion with a magical beast and a person, a normal person’s body will completely collapse. However, Snoc’s body even healed from the transfusion. This can only mean that Snoc’s fundamental mana properties are extremely compatible with the magical beast’s properties. I’m sure Snoc’s mana is very close to the earth.”

Zich continued his analysis, “In that case, even if you force a transfusion, Snoc’s body won’t explode. But I’m sure you played a part in the transfusion. You probably shook up his mentality, didn’t you?”

Zich shrugged his shoulders.

“Since you mentioned Drew before, he must have also been part of your plan. No wonder I witnessed such a funny sight like an adventurer accepting a disciple.”

The man could not help but let out a low murmur, “You fucking bastard.”