It was really strange.
He should have already killed her by now.
‘How long has it been?’
Bang!
Ugkas’ fist sank into Sedi’s stomach, and it should have been a devastating blow.
But it wasn’t. Instead, he felt the force of his attack dissipate just before it reached her.
‘Did she absorb the force of my attack?’
Tuk.
His outstretched arm was caught, but Ugkas didn’t care. After all, his entire body was made out of metal that was many times harder than steel. So techniques like joint locking would not work against him.
But Sedi didn’t intend to lock his joints. She grabbed Ugkas’ right arm with both hands. Then, something inconceivable happened.
Ugkas’ large body was lifted into the air.
‘This…’
He was acutely aware of just how heavy his body was. So how the hell was this little girl able to lift him?
Boom!
Then, as if to mock Ugkas’ doubts even further, Sedi slammed him into the ground.
The impact of the fall shattered the ground beneath them, and Ugkas fell down to a new floor.
Crash! Crash! Crash!
One floor, two floors, three floors.
The underground facility had been constructed in preparation for an attack by the Demons, and it was theorised that it would be able to withstand dozens of attacks from air-to-surface missiles before it suffered even a single crack.
Nevertheless, it was only after breaking through the fourth floor that Ugkas finally stopped falling.
“…”
Ugkas slowly rose to his feet.
The pain that rippled through his body for the first time in a very long while was strange and surprising at the same time.
He looked up through the hole he’d made during his descent.
The mysterious little girl was locked in heated combat with Sipakna. With every clash, the wounds on Sedi’s body steadily increased. However, instead of faltering, her movements were becoming sharper and sharper.
‘It’s like the more she fights, the stronger she becomes.’
No. It wasn’t something that simple.
Ugkas had met several individuals who became significantly stronger when their lives were on the line.
However, the prowess Sedi was showing wasn’t something that could be attributed to desperate ‘growth’.
‘This is like…’
A powerful being who hadn’t fought in a long time slowly loosening her rusty body.
‘She’s dangerous.’
Ugkas’ instincts began to sound an alarm in his head. This was no longer something that could be handled while conserving his strength. He realised that if he didn’t kill this girl now, this fight would become many times more troublesome.
Ugkas leapt upward.
Boom!
His body shot upwards like a rocket.
Sedi immediately put her guard up. Even though she continued to fight Sipakna, her focus was now mostly on Ugkas.
This was because unlike Sipakna, who used various tricks to injure her bit by bit, every one of Ugkas’ attacks was lethal.
“Blade Fist.”
An incredibly powerful force was built up in Ugkas’ fist before he punched forward.
Sedi couldn’t have known that he knew the Warrior King Fist, which also contained various long-ranged attacks.
Nor could she know how unbelievably powerful these attacks were.
The first thing she noticed was the breeze blowing past her ears.
Coooo-
Then, she felt the unusual energy. It was as though it was a sign, a harbinger of destruction.
Unfortunately, the phenomenon it announced came shortly after.
By the time Sedi turned her head to look at Ugkas, the breeze from his fist had already become a strong gale.
Even so, the force didn’t stop building.
It became bigger, stronger, more vicious.
And at long last.
Roar!
The gentle breeze had become a typhoon that swept away everything in its path.
‘Crazy bastard…’
He was using a skill with such a range? Didn’t he know that Sipakna would also get caught in it?
Remembering her other opponent, Sedi suddenly turned to look at the slug-like being. Its response to this was simple. It simply wrapped its hundreds of tentacles around itself like a cocoon.
“Kuk…!”
Right. He could just regenerate any damage he took anyway.
Sedi gnashed her teeth.
The range of the attack was too large for her to dodge it, and it couldn’t be blocked because it was a shapeless windstorm.
‘I need to save my demonic energy.’
She already didn’t have much demonic energy left. Even though she had gradually been using it little by little to deal with this desperate situation, she’d still kept some in reserve in case of any sudden changes. However, in order to defend against this attack, she would have to use most of her Demonic energy.
‘Dammit.’
However, she didn’t have much of a choice at that moment.
“I’ll worry about the consequences later…!”
Sedi immediately unleashed her demonic energy.
In an instant, her vision went black. Such power was already at the limits of her mortal body.
Boom!
Nevertheless, the effect was outstanding.
Sedi’s demonic energy brought death to all things.
Because the Absolute domain with which she was most familiar was death.
If she was able to rise to the rank of Ruler in the future, she would surely gain dominion over death.
Her home world, the Planet of Fighters, was also called the Planet of Death.
A barren, bloody land.
‘Kill or be killed.’
There was no other way to live.
On that planet, Sedi fought continuously.
Thousands of people, tens of thousands of people.
She had killed at least that many people, and she felt their death every time.
Then, as she slowly began to feel the grim reaper breath down her neck, she began to understand the concept of death to an extent.
That’s why she knew just how dangerous it was to deal with this power in her current state.
Death was not a concept that any mortal could handle.
“…that is a tremendous power.”
Ugkas muttered these words in a strained voice.
The demonic energy that Sedi released hadn’t just offset his Blade Fist but had also struck Ugkas’ hard body.
However, this incredible power, which would turn even stone to dust in only a few moments, had little effect on Ugkas.
“You have a metal body… so you are the worst opponent for me.”
Sedi said these words with a wry smile.
But this was a lie.
She’d put her life on the line with her previous attack. Pouring most of her demonic energy from her body had put it in a worse condition than before.
But in the end, even this all-or-nothing shot had failed.
‘I was planning on taking out one of the Five Dukes with that attack.’
Why hadn’t she aimed for Sipakna instead? She felt regret, but there was no guarantee that the results would have been different.
After all, this insidious slug had hidden its true colors even better than Ugkas.
“Looks like you’ve given up.”
“Not yet.”
“There’s no need to pretend. I can see your condition.”
Ugkas shook his head as he continued.
“I heard that there is a Saint here, one of the Top Three… If you had worked together with him, you might have been more troublesome to deal with.”
“Well. I don’t think there is any human who would have been much help in this situation.”
Ugkas didn’t agree with that.
After all, it wasn’t just the Saint.
Somewhere in this land was the man who was the reason they’d gone there in the first place.
Ugkas’ heart felt a bit cold at that moment.
If that man and Sedi had worked together…
It was at that moment.
Boom!
Something shot downwards like a cannonball. Even Sedi was surprised by the speed and destructive power.
This projectile, which shot downwards like lightning, was aimed at Sipakna.
Realising this, Sipakna lifted its tentacles to form a gigantic meat shield.
Crack!
But it didn’t work.
The projectile easily penetrated the wall of tentacles like they were made of old wood and sank deeply into Sipakna’s body, pinning it to the ground. And it was only then they were able to see what the projectile was.
It was a single sword.
Roooaar~!
Sipakna roared and struggled fiercely while Sedi was surprised by the sudden situation.
“So this is where you were hiding.”
“…”
Ugkas’ expression hardened.
A man with short gray hair smoothly landed on the ground, his cloak billowing around him.
“I’ve been looking for you bastards for a long time.”
The Strongest, Kran, let out a laugh.
(TL: I bet Ugkas wants to slap himself now for jinxing it.)