Chapter 394 (1/2)
Act 9
Ruuumble, sizzle…
Hissss, sizzle…
The parasites were either burnt black or melted down.
The flames that were completely filling up the interior of the World Tree’s trunk continued to rage on, but that’s because the moment the flames were withdrawn, the “bug” would start spitting out the toxic smoke once more.
Sun Wukong and Luslec watched this scene in amazement. They had no idea that performing something like this was even possible.
“Just how big is the affected area?”
The divine Flame was one of Su-hyeun’s main skills. As such, Luslec had witnessed the divine Flame’s activation many times already while tagging along with Su-hyeun.
But even then, this was his first time seeing this sort of flame. It was not only bright but also warm. More than anything else, though, the skill’s range was on a completely different dimension compared to before.
Rumble…
The moment flames that seemed to have filled up the World Tree activated and prana took over Su-hyeun’s body, the light burning in his eyes changed.
Squeeeeze…
Su-hyeun clenched his fist tightly as he began walking toward the bug. The creature was stuck in the center of the blaze, writhing away in torment. It must’ve found the flames too hot to endure.
No matter what, a fire was the natural enemy of all insects.
“Despite becoming a monster, you still couldn’t change your true nature, could you?”
Su-hyeun didn’t know why, but he could clearly see the original appearance of the bug in front of his eyes.
It was a parasite that subsisted on the sweat and blood of other life forms. It was also a monster that, despite coming to possess more than enough power to completely change what it was, couldn’t be satisfied and continued to harm others with its greed for even greater power.
However, the creature’s true appearance was nothing more than some small and insignificant little bug as tiny as a strand of fabric.
“Go back to how you used to look.”
Ki-ririririk…!
The bug’s eyes gleamed sharply as if it actually understood what Su-hyeun had said just then, and then, it straightened its writhing body.
Chwa-aaaaaah—!
The creature suddenly flung itself toward him with movements so much more agile than ever before.
Craaaack—!
Black thorns extended out and flew in toward him from all sides as they scratched the walls, but Su-hyeun didn’t even bother to dodge and simply took a large stride toward the incoming thorns.
And right at that moment…
Paht—
Su-hyeun’s figure vanished from the spot.
“Where did he go?”
Luslec, who no longer had anything left to do after the parasites had all been burned to death, looked around him. He was trying to locate the “vanished” Su-hyeun.
But then…
KWA-DUDUDUDU—!
Splaaaat—!
Loud noises came to him a little bit later.
Luslec hurriedly spun his head around and discovered the black blood profusely pouring out from the bug, all of its black thorns broken and severed. It let out a bizarre-sounding screaming as if it was suffering from intense torment and even began shaking its tail all over the place as well.
“When did he cut that thing down?”
Luslec’s gaze quickly shifted up after he sensed a presence up there.
[Immortality]
[Dragon Slaying Spear]
[Flame – Explosion Style]
Squeeze, grip…
Veins bulged on Su-hyeun’s arm.
The flames on the tip of the spear burned viciously. Su-hyeun met Luslec’s incredulous gaze and mouthed some words, “Please dodge on your own.”
Luslec was instantly overcome with an ominous foreboding and quickly melted into the ground right where he stood. He traveled along the shadows and only reappeared again quite a distance away, and by the time he reappeared above the surface, the spear had already left Su-hyeun’s hand.
Chwa-rarararak—!
The spear that left Su-hyeun’s hands split into thousands of pieces. In response, the bug twisted its body and tried to dodge, but there were just too many of them.
Pow, bang, popopopopow—!
Ruuuuumble—
Kkyah-aaaaahk—!
The bug screamed again.
Its screams were unsurprisingly bizarre and monstrous. Back when it was still a parasite, it had no mouth, so it couldn’t scream. After it acquired power and changed its appearance, it had no opportunity to scream like this, either.
The sound of a scream made through sheer pain cracked. The bug, with its body punctured straight through in several places and its flesh burning away, thrashed wildly about. In the meantime, Su-hyeun made another move.
Swhoooosh—
Splat, crack—!
Sliiice—
The creature’s large body was deeply cut wide open, but it regenerated quickly.
Poooow—!
A thorn impaled Su-hyeun’s body. At least that’s what it outwardly looked like.
Squeeeeze…
Su-hyeun grabbed the thorn mid-air with his bare hand and then utterly crushed it using nothing but his grip alone.
Ruuuumble…
Flames traveled along the crushed thorn and the “vine” connecting it to the bug. The creature was set on even fiercer flames, and its horrifying screeches rang out even louder than before. Because of the flames, it couldn’t even regenerate properly.
Su-hyeun seemed to be ready to wrap this up because he raised his sword high above his head, stepped on the thorn’s vine, and dashed straight toward the bug’s head.
[One Sword Cutting Through Everything – Great Mountain Splitter]
Gu-wuwuwuwu…
His sword densely permeating in prana now carried enough power to seemingly split the World Tree itself in half.
But just before his terrifying sword attack could come down…
Split—
Whoosh—!
The bug’s mouth split wide open without warning and swallowed Su-hyeun in the blink of an eye. The scorched-black body of the creature, still burning in flames, twisted and wrapped around its head that had swallowed Su-hyeun up just now.
“Mister Su-hyeun!”
“Little bro?!”
Luslec and Sun Wukong cried out in shock, but their worries only lasted for a brief moment.
Split—
Not too long afterward, a long and thin “line” suddenly drew along the bug’s coiled body.
Pu-haaaaaaahk—!
The severed flesh exploded. Sun Wukong’s eyes widened as he took in the sights of the fountain of blood and torn flesh bits scattering in the air. “Gyeol?”