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Chapter 241

"This is absurd!"

Dokgo Jun’s eyes widened in disbelief.

A young man claiming to be a sect disciple had suddenly appeared out of nowhere to help him. The man had instantly healed his broken body and begun fighting the one who had inflicted such damage upon him.

But what truly stunned Dokgo Jun was the martial art the young man displayed—it was incredibly familiar.

"That’s the martial art I created!"

A technique Dokgo Jun had relentlessly trained to perfect in his quest to reach a higher realm than the Heavenly Demon. Before entering his secluded training, he had hidden his identity and visited the martial world twice to assert his dominance over it.

During those visits, he had earned the moniker “Underworld King” after demonstrating his still-unfinished martial art.

"What a laughable title."

Yet somehow, this young man was using the very martial art he had created. Not only that, but his mastery of it was comparable to the level Dokgo Jun had reached during his secluded training.

"Even so, it’s futile," Dokgo Jun thought grimly.

He had already faced Bulang once and realized the vast difference in their capabilities. Whatever power Bulang used, it rendered the Heavenly Demon Divine Art ineffective, and even Dokgo Jun’s enhanced Heavenly Demon Physique couldn’t withstand his attacks.

"This one isn’t worth much either," Bulang muttered with a bored expression, casually swinging his scythe.

Three red cards materialized before him, spinning rapidly.

"Watch out!"

Dokgo Jun recognized the danger. The red cards absorbed damage and reflected it back unconditionally.

Jeong-hoon, the young man, quickly withdrew his fist and retreated from Bulang.

"Ho, you’re quick to catch on," Bulang remarked.

"I’m not that easy to deal with," Jeong-hoon replied with a grin.

He carefully analyzed the cards, already familiar with their effects:

- Red cards: Absorb damage and forcefully reflect it.

- Green cards: Absorb damage and temporarily enhance the user proportional to the absorbed energy.

To activate the full effect of the red cards, Bulang needed to mark his target, as Jeong-hoon had observed during Dokgo Jun’s earlier encounter. The mark had been engraved on Dokgo Jun’s forehead, which was why Jeong-hoon had immediately used Advanced Healing and activated Holy Orb of Glory.

The Holy Orb of Glory purified everything on the designated target, including Bulang’s marking.

"Heh, is that so?"

Bulang smirked and swung his scythe again. This time, three blue cards appeared and began spinning before him.

"Blue cards… what do they do?"

Jeong-hoon furrowed his brow, pushing his senses to their limit.

Suddenly, mana from the surroundings began flowing into the cards.

The cards grew larger, abruptly stopping in place before shooting toward Jeong-hoon.

Shaaak!

The cards scattered into multiple shards, forming a whirlwind that engulfed Jeong-hoon.

"My mana is being drained!"

Caught in the vortex, Jeong-hoon felt his mana being siphoned away. He tried to regain control, but it was completely ineffective.

At this rate, all his mana would be drained.

The real issue was that even his life force had started diminishing.

"Impressive."

As expected, this was the power of a Demon King-level being.

Unlike Apostle-level foes, Jeong-hoon couldn’t even discern the abilities Bulang was using. However, Jeong-hoon had encountered a similar ability before during his regressions. While it wasn’t as powerful as this, he had fought an Apostle-level transcendent who wielded something eerily similar.

"There’s always a weakness."

Analyzing the flow of mana being siphoned from him, Jeong-hoon activated the Underworld King\'s Fist Technique .

[Activating Formless Fist.]

As he struck with his fist, the Formless Fist activated, systematically eliminating the blue cards one by one.

There could be no mistakes in the sequence.

The cards didn’t absorb mana and life force simultaneously; instead, they targeted randomly. To eliminate them, they had to be struck while actively absorbing either mana or life force.

If he touched any other cards, all of them would activate at once, leading to catastrophic consequences.

Jeong-hoon focused intently, targeting only the cards affecting his mana and life force.

Crackle.

Crack!

As the cards disintegrated, Bulang’s eyes widened in disbelief.

"Impossible!"

The blue cards represented “Plunder.”

They drained mana and life force from their target, slowly whittling them down to death. With hundreds of cards swirling around, they gradually ate away at his reserves.

If the victim panicked and tried to escape by touching the cards, every single one would activate at once, killing them instantly.

It was a perfect death trap.

Yet, this young man was calmly dismantling the cards with precision punches. That meant he had already figured out how to counter them.

"Then try this!"

Bulang swung his scythe once more, and a massive yellow card appeared on the ground.

Boom!

The ground trembled violently, causing both Jeong-hoon and Dokgo Jun to groan.

The yellow card was a gravity manipulation ability.

"Hngh!"

[Activating Barrier of Light.]

Jeong-hoon summoned the Barrier of Light, a Legendary-grade skill. Though it wouldn’t last long, it granted him temporary freedom of movement.

[Activating Formless Fist.]

Jeong-hoon swiftly eliminated more cards.

When he determined that enough of them had been cleared, he extended his hand toward Bulang.

[Activating Grasp of the Overlord.]

The Grasp of the Overlord wasn’t just a buff skill—it had an active ability to designate a target and pull them toward him.

The ability activated, and Bulang was forcibly dragged toward Jeong-hoon.

"You bastard!"

Bulang, now visibly shaken, swung his scythe in desperation.

A red card appeared before him.

If one’s body touched the card, it would trigger a marking.

However, unlike before, Jeong-hoon didn’t hesitate to swing his fist.

"Hup!"

"Oh?"

Bulang furrowed his brows.

He must know about the marking, so why?

At that moment, the red card\'s forced reflection ability activated.

Yet Jeong-hoon continued to strike toward Bulang without concern. Of course, the red card absorbed all of his attacks, nullifying them entirely.

"Bingo."

Jeong-hoon smirked.

Suddenly, Bulang’s body bent forward at the waist, almost folding in half.

"Kuhack!"

A groan of pain escaped from Bulang\'s mouth.

[Rune of Counterattack activates.]

[You can return the absorbed attacks.]

For 15 seconds, all incoming attacks are absorbed and returned in full.

Jeong-hoon had successfully turned the red card\'s forced reflection against Bulang, delivering a counterstrike.

“Underworld King\'s Fist Technique\'s 6th form.”

Initially, Jeong-hoon had deliberately avoided the marking because his martial art was only at its first form. To inflict meaningful damage, he needed to increase its level.

By rapidly destroying hundreds of cards, he had elevated the Underworld King’s Fist Technique to 6th form in one go.

"How does that taste?"

Jeong-hoon grinned while finishing off the remaining cards.

"Kuh-kuh, you really are a fun one."

Bulang, however, did not fall. Instead, he gazed at Jeong-hoon with an expression of amusement.

"So, even this isn’t enough," Jeong-hoon thought.

But it didn’t matter. This much was sufficient.

[10 minutes have passed.]

Jeong-hoon had successfully protected Dokgo Jun for ten minutes.

"You seem to be in a good mood. Was it spicy enough for you?"

"You’re making this tough. Now I really want to go all out."

Bulang swung his scythe once more, and a rainbow-colored card appeared before him.

"That’s dangerous."

The red cards reflected attacks.

The yellow cards manipulated gravity.

The blue cards plundered mana and life force.

The green cards absorbed damage.

Each of them had terrifying abilities. A rainbow-colored card, however, signified a power far beyond comparison with the others.

But before it could activate, Bulang’s figure began to blur.

Jeong-hoon exhaled a sigh of relief and taunted Bulang.

"Looks like your time to interfere is up, huh?"

"Damn it... I got too caught up with you and lost track of time..."

Bulang ground his teeth in frustration.

"You should’ve kept better track of time."

The plan had worked perfectly.

By breaking the blue cards and using the Rune of Conterattack, Jeong-hoon successfully diverted Bulang\'s attention, allowing the ten minutes to pass uneventfully.

"...I hope we meet again. Next time, I’ll make sure to end you for good."

With those words, Bulang completely disappeared.

"Phew... I’m alive."

Even with all the doping, there was no guarantee of victory against such an opponent.

If the quest had required defeating Bulang instead of merely surviving for ten minutes, failure would have been inevitable.

Jeong-hoon turned and walked toward Dokgo Jun, who was staring at him with a dazed expression.

‘Is that really the Heavenly Demon?’

The sky above the sky.

The absolute being.

Those were the titles attributed to this man, yet his dumbfounded expression didn’t match the image at all.

Above Dokgo Jun\'s head, an exclamation mark was blinking.

[You have completed the quest.]

[You can now inherit the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.]

With the quest complete, the opportunity to learn the Heavenly Demon Divine Art had arrived.

‘If I inherit the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, it means the Underworld King\'s Fist Technique will evolve.’

Jeong-hoon thought about it.

The Underworld King\'s Fist Technique lacked nothing. It was flawless, a near-perfect martial art.

But staying at the Legendary grade wasn’t enough.

To surpass his limits, he needed to inherit the Heavenly Demon Divine Art from Dokgo Jun, the Heavenly Demon himself, and elevate the Underworld King\'s Fist Technique to an even greater level.

‘This must be why the quest is called “The Ultimate Path.”’

Ultimate Path (1).

The number indicated there were multiple paths.

Sol must have pointed him to these coordinates intentionally.

By first evolving the Underworld King\'s Fist Technique, Jeong-hoon would be better equipped to handle the subsequent quests in the Ultimate Path series.

‘How did that strange guy even know I practiced the Underworld King\'s Fist Technique?’

The coordinates were too precise for anyone who didn’t know Jeong-hoon’s abilities intimately.

Though he was curious, there were more pressing matters at hand—starting with inheriting the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.

"You. Where did you learn that martial art?"

With the yellow card gone, the gravity returned to normal.

Dokgo Jun straightened his legs, rising from his previously kneeling position.

"Would you believe me if I told you the truth?"

"...Speak."

"I came from another dimension."

"Another dimension?"

"Yes. I’m playing this damned game over there as well."

Dokgo Jun frowned, pondering Jeong-hoon’s words.

The primary reason he had entered closed-door training wasn’t just to dominate the martial world, but to completely eradicate the demonic beasts.

"Since you entered your closed-door training, the Heavenly Demon Cult has rapidly fallen into ruin."

"What did you say?!"

Dokgo Jun’s eyes widened in shock.

When he handed over leadership to the vice-cult leader and isolated himself, the Heavenly Demon Cult had still been thriving.

"It’s because the number of gates releasing demonic beasts has increased beyond imagination."

"...Damn it. That means the penalties have been compounding all this time."

Dokgo Jun groaned, rubbing his forehead in frustration.

While undergoing his closed-door training, Dokgo Jun had completely isolated himself from the outside world, so he had no idea what was going on.

"To be honest, the lifespan of this dimension is almost over."

"...

"It\'s probably because we’ve failed to close the gates consecutively."

"Nak Jin-cheon...? Was Nak Jin-cheon just watching?! No, what about the martial artists in the martial world?! What the hell were they doing?!"

"The King of Martial Arts, Nak Jin-cheon."

He had lost to him in martial arts, but he was a formidable opponent who was deserving of the title of King of Martial Arts.

He had even been impressed enough to reveal his real name, Dokgo Jun.

"I don’t know about that."

"...Huh."

"Anyway, I need power."

"Power? You’ve already mastered the martial art I created perfectly."

"No. I want to fully inherit the Heavenly Demon Divine Art."

"The Heavenly Demon Divine Art?"

"Yes."

The Heavenly Demon Divine Art.

A martial art created using divine energy, it was similar in structure but entirely different in nature.

The Heavenly Demon Divine Art, said to be something only a Heavenly Demon could wield.

What Jeong-hoon wanted was precisely that—the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.

"...It’s meaningless. Even the Heavenly Demon Divine Art couldn’t defeat that one person."

He was referring to Bulang.

"That doesn’t mean we can just stand idly by and watch."

"...Then can you promise me one thing?"

"What is it?"

"Completely eradicate the demonic beasts."

"...This dimension is beyond saving."

It had already fallen.

That’s why it was being used as a special dungeon now.

Dokgo Jun shook his head.

"I know. I felt it painfully while facing him."

The realization that he couldn’t do anything with his own power.

"Then?"

"Protect the world you’re in. And then, I hope you’ll continue the legacy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art."

If the dimension was destroyed, the legacy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art would end with it.

But if Jeong-hoon inherited the art, the legacy would not be severed.

Jeong-hoon nodded.

"I’ll do that."