"Ha, hahaha!"
Baek KangHyun began laughing. He nodded.
"Since you know everything, I guess I won't need to hide anymore."
He took out the red mask and put it on. You could see the madness in his eyes.
Baek KangHyun clenched his fists. KangWoo gripped the axe even tighter.
"Let's start."
"I'm glad you understand fast."
There was no need to make things longer.
Now that they'd confirmed that they were enemies, talking was pointless.
KangWoo pulled back the arm holding the axe and swung it.
Whish Whish Whish-!
He swung and threw the axe covered with chilling energy.
The atmosphere's moisture froze, and frost was sprayed along the trajectory of the axe.
Baek KangHyun lowered his body and clenched his fist.
Demonic energy gathered around his fist and formed a gauntlet.
It wasn't simple energy but demonic energy that had a form.
That showed that he hadn't lost his reason because of the demonic energy that he could control it.
Slam-!
As he swung his fist as if he were doing an uppercut punch, the axe was pushed back.
The moment the gauntlet touched the axe, it froze.
"Hmm."
Baek KangHyun let out a moan.
The axe was stronger than he had thought.
He looked at the axe cautiously.
But KangWoo didn't seem to care about it—he swung his left arm.
The axe disappeared, and KangWoo swung a sword as if it were a whip.
Clang-! Clang! Clang!
The gauntlet clashed against the sword, and a steel sound spread through the place.
Whenever the weapons clashed, huge impacts spread through the place.
The ground split as if it were glass, and cars bounced like pebbles.
More than a fight between humans, it seemed like a fight between giant monsters.
Boom-!
Baek KangHyun threw a nearby truck.
The truck that weighed tens of tens flew at KangWoo
The truck was split into two and fell to the ground.
The moment the truck split into two, Baek KangHyun reduced the distance between them and lowered his body. He pulled his right fist back and stepped violently forward.
An enormous strength gathered around his punch.
KangWoo didn't dodge it.
'Sky Break.'
The Authority of Divine Power and the Destructive Void fused.
Just like its name indicated, a power strong enough to break the sky was gathered.
Baek KangHyun and KangWoo's punches clashed against each other.
Boom-!
The ground that was supporting them began to crumble.
A deep hole appeared in the ground.
Baek KangHyun and KangWoo jumped out of the sinkhole.
It was so fast that it was hard to follow them with the eyes.
Slide-!
Baek KangHyun was pushed back.
The concrete floor was overturned following his trajectory.
"..."
Baek KangHyun looked at his trembling hands.
The moment their punches clashed, an impact that made him feel as if his body was about to be crushed spread through his body.
"I see…"
Baek KangHyun, who was wearing the red mask, nodded.
"It wasn't Chae YeonJoo. You were the real one."
"Real what?"
"The one interfering with our plans. It wasn't Chae YeonJoo, but you."
Chae YeonJoo was strong.
She was probably one of the strongest players in Korea…
'But that's it.'
He had never fought against her, but he knew more or less how strong she was.
Chae YeonJoo alone wouldn't be able to interfere with their plans.
"Who are you?"
Baek KangHyun looked at KangWoo while making a confused expression.
He didn't seem to be the newbie from the rumors who had Awakened as a player just three months before.
The power KangWoo had just shown wasn't one that a player who had just Awakened should have.
Based on that, there weren't many conclusions that he could make.
He was either a player who had been hiding his identity for a very long time, or he was a player who had obtained the identity of Oh KangWoo illegally.
Baek KangHyun thought that he probably was someone that belonged to a foreign force that had infiltrated Korea.
'He doesn't seem to be a world ranker.'
The eight players that people said were the strongest…
He couldn't think of a person among them that would do something like that.
Baek KangHyun narrowed his eyes.
'After all, there're more people than the world rankers.'
The world rankers were just the most famous players. On Earth, there were some people who were at the same level or even stronger than the world rankers.
For example, in the cult, there were some cardinals who were stronger than world rankers.
"I'm not sure."
"Hmph. I wasn't expecting you to talk easily."
Baek KangHyun snorted and got into position. His muscles inflated as if they were about to explode.
"Then I'll force you to talk."
"Do it if you can," He calmly answered.
Baek KangHyun frowned.
Crash-!!
The two monsters clashed once again.
A huge impact that made it seem like an earthquake had happened shook the surroundings.
The battle got longer, but the balance of the battle began to tilt slowly.
Paf-!
"Ugh!"
* * *
Baek KangHyun was pushed back.
A crack appeared on his red demon mask, and he threw it to the ground.
"You're strong."
He had to recognize it.
Player Oh KangWoo was stronger than him.
He began to laugh.
'Again?'
He remembered the time he’d lost a fight—the loss that’d pushed him into despair.
Fujimoto Ryoma…
He’d felt a huge wall when he’d fought against him.
He was once again seeing a wall that seemed impassable.
"Very fun."
His white teeth became visible.
Baek KangHyun turned his eyes to the fissure.
He thought it was nice that he'd felt a wall again at such an important moment.
After all, he'd sacrificed many lives to go beyond that wall.
"Hahahaha."
A creepy laugh came out of his mouth. His eyes were full of madness.
"If you're the opponent, it will be a good opportunity to figure out what kind of strength I'll get."
"...?"
KangWoo couldn't understand what he was saying.
KangWoo's expression distorted.
"Now, come! There're enough Fissure Fragments!"
Baek KangHyun opened both arms.
The demonic energy stones that were maintaining the fissure exploded, and an explosive amount of demonic energy came out.
At the same time, black energy came out of the people that had turned into demonic monsters and gathered in the fissure.
Although it was very weak because the number was in the thousands, it was an amount that couldn't be ignored.
'So that's a Fissure Fragment.'
KangWoo's expression hardened.
"Hahaha! Come on, come to me!"
Baek KangHyun laughed. The plan that had taken thousands of lives…
The result of that was about to appear in front of him.
Stomp-!!
Strong demonic energy came out of the fissure and entered Baek KangHyun's body. He was laughing out loud like a crazy man.
Crack-!!
You could hear the sounds of bones and muscles moving.
Wings pierced through Baek KangHyun's back and appeared.
His muscles became unnaturally big, and his skin turned red.
He grew sharp teeth and a tail.
And lastly…
Crack-!
Two horns appeared on his forehead.
"GRRRR."
An aggressive cry came out of his mouth. Yellow eyes that resembled a reptile’s were aimed at KangWoo.
[This is the best.]
Baek KangHyun trembled after feeling the strength that was boiling from his insides.
It was a thrilling strength.
—One that he wouldn't have been able to imagine until then—a strength beyond the 'wall.'
[Heh… hahahahaha!]
He began laughing like a maniac once again.
Although he'd sacrificed thousands of lives for the plan to work, he wasn't feeling any remorse.
No, he thought it had been worth sacrificing all those people to obtain such strength.
The strong preyed upon the weak.
—It was the providence of nature and the rule of the world.
In front of the obsession for gaining strength, thousands of lives were meaningless.
- Where is this place...?
A low voice spread through Baek KangHyun's head.
[It seems like you regained consciousness.]
- Who are you?
[I'm Baek KangHyun. Your host, and the one that will become you.]
- What does that mean?
[You'll soon figure it out.]
A smile appeared on Baek KangHyun's face.
He turned his face to KangWoo.
KangWoo was looking at him in disbelief.
"How... is that possible?"
He subconsciously knew what Baek KangHyun had done.
—But he never had imagined that something like that was possible.
It was as if he'd received a huge hit.
'He summoned a demon inside him.'
He wasn't sure if he'd summoned just the soul of it or the body itself.
He also wasn't sure if, by doing that, it would have the same effect as if he'd fused with a demon.
What he was sure of was that Baek KangHyun was someone crazier than he'd initially thought.
…And his crazy plan had been successful.
[Now, should we start again?]
Baek KangHyun stamped his foot.
Strong demonic energy came out of his body—it was thick enough to make KangWoo tremble.
It seemed like the demon he'd summoned inside himself was quite strong.
'Or maybe fusing your body with a demon makes you stronger.'
It was his first time seeing something like that.
He never thought that something like that was possible, so he wasn't sure what effect it had.
'That's not important.'
What was important wasn't how that was possible or its effect…
KangWoo glared at Baek KangHyun, who was charging toward him.
He opened both arms and let the demonic energy flow through his body. He took a deep breath and concentrated.
[Die!]
Baek KangHyun's punch targeted him.
Baek KangHyun's had grown in size and was almost three meters tall, so the punch itself was a dangerous weapon.
KangWoo rolled to the ground and dodged the punch, and he used the elasticity of his body and bounced back up.
"Kraken's Rage."
Smash-!
He hit Baek KangHyun's head with his fists full of demonic energy.
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