Chapter 514 - 514 (1/2)

Hak-joon's condition wasn't so good at the moment.

He just finished his fight against Sun Wukong about one hour ago. He wasn't heavily injured or anything like that, but the fight exhausted all of his stamina and magical energy reserve. He still hadn't recovered in full, as a matter of fact.

”About half of my normal state, I guess?”

Still, resting for one hour helped recover his physical condition, and he could more or less fight to some degree.

He didn't feel rueful, however; even if he was in his peak condition, he still wasn't sure if his powers were good enough to scratch Su-hyeun.

”No, wait. I'm sure it's still impossible.”

Unlike the other spectators here, Hak-joon had figured out the identity of the ”only opponent” Su-hyeun was talking about, and it wasn't Gordon Rohan.

It was Sun Wukong.

”That guy is still checking things out, huh?”

The only contestant who hadn't joined up with everyone was Sun Wukong.

He had been watching all the fights with great interest until now. The story remained the same even as hundreds of contestants got ready to step up.

He probably wanted to have a proper one-on-one fight with Su-hyeun.

”In any case, I won't be fighting alone.”

When would he get another chance to fight like this?

Hak-joon was under no delusion that he could do something to Su-hyeun during a one-on-one bout. However, if it was during a hundreds-on-one battle, in such an environment, he might get the opportunity to meet the condition set out by Su-hyeun.

And this was the kind of chance with Su-hyeun that Hak-joon had been thinking all this time.

”Fuuu...”

He took a deep, deep breath, then...

Buzz—

He injected magical energy into the blade and slowly rouse its hidden strength.

Hak-joon's senses remained sharp since the fight against Sun Wukong. His physical body might not have recovered completely and was still fatigued, but his burning spirit and senses were several times sharper than his usual self.

Once he was finished with sharpening his senses...

”Let's go.”

Hak-joon got ready to move.

But then...

Step—

Su-hyeun made a move before everyone else did.

Crunch—!

And then, there came the sound of a heavy punch.

Ruuuumble—

At the same time, hot flames spread all around the arena.

* * *

Ka-boom—!

Su-hyeun's fist slammed into the abdomen of the nearest contestant.

The noise was as loud as an explosion. Some licks of hot flames erupted from his fist as well.

”Ku-huk!”

An awakener with a face Su-hyeun didn't recognize and whose name he didn't know flew up high in the air. Judging from this result, it seemed that this individual became an S-Rank only recently.

”That's disappointing.”

He adjusted his strength appropriately, but to think that this person couldn't even dodge or withstand the attack.

”Tsk,” Su-hyeun quietly tutted.

He then dug into the ranks of the contestants and began wielding his sword.

Smack, smack—!

Bang—!

His sword didn't cut or chop anyone apart. It simply smacked and beat on the limbs, backs, and abdomen of his targets.

Magical energy didn't only have the function of boosting the sword's cutting power. It could also wrap around the blade in any shape the wielder wanted—and in this case, in the form of a blunt weapon by dulling the blade's edges.

Since Su-hyeun couldn't kill anyone today, doing this was an absolute necessity.

Bang—!

Kugh...

Ji-jijijijik—!

It was right at that moment someone capable of defending against Su-hyeun's sword attack finally appeared.

Although he swung his weapon around lightly and lowered the cutting power by a considerable margin, this awakener managed to stop his attack nevertheless.

Su-hyeun's eyes gleamed a little as he took a look at this awakener.

”Jenner Duvernay. She's a French awakener, wasn't she?”

He recalled her name, as well as her face.

France was widely acknowledged around the world as an awakener powerhouse nation like the U.S. and South Korea. She was a fighter specialized in hand-to-hand combat.

”Should we check out how long she can hold on, then?”

Since he was swinging around his sword to see if anyone could block it, Su-hyeun didn't find her successfully defending against the attack weird at all.

Actually, he was even thinking that failing to stop an attack of this caliber was not a good thing.

Swish—

Su-hyeun's figure dashed toward Duvernay.

She kept her glare firmly locked on Su-hyeun as he arrived before her in the blink of an eye. She then quickly unleashed a powerful punch.

[Crimson Wind Fist - Bloodthirster]

KA-BOOOOOM—!

Splash, riiiiip—

Along with the fist winds, crimson currents rapidly pounced on Su-hyeun. These currents not only exerted a great deal of wind pressure, but they also felt like deadly blades.

Having landed an attack rather unexpectedly, Jenner Duvernay muttered, surprised, ”I got him...?!”

There definitely was feedback on her fist, but even then...

”Mm. That was stronger than I thought.”

Fwhoosh—

Smack—!

”What?”

The dull-edged sword slammed straight into Duvernay's midriff. She urgently bent her torso forward greatly and flung herself back to mitigate the impact force by as much as half.

Her reaction time was pretty good.

”And her toughness is pretty good, too.”

Swhooooooosh—

Pow, popopopopow—!

Countless arrows flew in from the air above before rapidly stabbing into the arena's floor. By then, Su-hyeun had already found an unaffected area among the raining arrows and evacuated there, his torso slightly tilting to dodge the rest.

[Trap of Heaven and Earth]

[Crimson Crossbow - Shower of Bolts]

Chwa-jajajajajak—!

A ”net” suddenly restricted Su-hyeun while a deluge of arrows rained down from above once more.

How should he dodge this? It was not that difficult, actually.

Slice—!

Su-hyeun ripped the net apart in one sword swing. The trap was made out of an unknown material and magical energy, but unlike its reputation, it got torn into bits without much difficulty.

”Pretty good coordination, and it's tougher than I thought.”

Although he did tear the net pretty easily, he still sensed its toughness through the sword swing.

Most average-level S-Rank awakeners wouldn't have been able to tear through the net. It wasn't designed to be ripped apart in the first place, after all.

And then, there was the deluge of arrows pouring in at the perfect time, too.

These two awakeners were working rather well together.

Even so...

”That's not going to be enough.”

And ”not enough” by a long shot, too.