The Terminally Ill Young Master is the Mad Dog of the Underworld-Chapter 346

[Translator - Pot ]

[Proofreader - Kawaii ]

Chapter 346: In Light and Darkness

[Allenvert Grunewald.]

The Dark King raised a finger and pointed at me.

When his mouth opened, the voice that had resonated without the physical act of speech finally transformed into a real one.

“You have finally crawled your way up to this point. I shall praise you for that.”

‘How absurd.’

Could the simple act of pointing lead to the result of annihilating a being?

I felt an unreal power, as if a normal human would die from their head exploding just by being in its path.

“Dark King, so you’ve finally crawled out. Were you grilling some squid up there?”

…It was the first time I had seen the Dark King’s face.

Long hair, a harmonious and perfect physique, seething dignity, an ageless face, and features that were not so much handsome as they were overflowing with authority.

And, his comfortably closed eyes.

“So this is what you look like, Dark King.”

He had never revealed his face in the past.

Back then, the most I could see was Gulbark’s face.

‘He looks more normal than I thought.’

“Did you think I would have horns, crimson eyes, and a face twisted like a vicious demon?”

The Dark King asked with a laugh.

“Who knows.”

Naturally, it was not a look of joy or amusement at all.

It was hard to find the right words to describe it, but if I had to.

‘Is this the feeling of watching an ant’s antics?’

As if reading my thoughts, the Dark King gave me an answer.

“Ah, not quite. You are different from the ants. Are you not a man who rose from among the earthworms littering the ground to finally become a dragon?”

“You’re overestimating me so much all of a sudden, it’s flustering.”

The Dark King didn't reply to that, and slowly raised the edge of his hand.

‘What is he doing? No, wait-’

The Dark King brought his hand down in a light gesture, as if a child was waving his hand, containing no power or speed.

“!!!”

At that, the sky, the sea, and the land in its path split apart.

I drew my sword and deflected that 'concept of cutting,' which was too strange to be called a mere slash.

“As I thought. You, too, have climbed ‘this far.’”

The Dark King nodded.

“It is a power that even I could not gauge with my eyes. Truly remarkable. In the realm of concealment arts, you even surpass me.”

“If you were so suspicious of my power, you should have stepped in sooner. Why did you just stand by and watch your subordinates die?”

Beneath my calm expression, I thought.

‘Shit, my arm is numb.’

Just from handling that one attack, a shock remained, as if my fingers had been broken and my wrist twisted.

‘Even though I’m at the very peak of the 8th-tier, this is the price for deflecting that one stupid hand-chop.’

The title 'Demon God' was truly no exaggeration.

If he wished it, everyone here would be annihilated.

“Think about it, Allenvert.”

The Dark King replied.

“If you were me, would you not be curious about Grunewald’s true power? About how far the clan’s greatest genius, whom they raised by deceiving me, stealing the Dragon Heart, and passing on all their martial arts, had reached.”

“Is that so?”

I spoke with feigned leisure, but I knew the Dark King to an extent.

“You’re lying. If you could become complete with the Ebony Oath alone, then why did you covet the Dragon Heart?”

That's right. There was a contradiction in the Dark King’s words.

And there was a contradiction in his actions.

“Are you confident, perhaps? Confident that you can defeat me and absorb the power left in my body?”

These bastards would surely know a method to turn a human into an elixir and extract their power.

“…Hahaha.”

The Dark King finally revealed a ‘genuine’ smile.

“Your intuition is sharp, Allenvert.”

“So you really are a special kind of crazy. You were just watching because you could raise me well and then devour me?”

Even in this situation, another thought occurred to me, and I asked again.

“You might have even been looking forward to it. If I were too weak, there would be no ‘satisfaction in absorbing’ me.”

“Now you are making some useful deductions.”

The Dark King spread his fingers like claws and swiped.

This time, five scars were carved into the harbor.

KWAAAAAAAANG!

It was a sight as if a giant from mythology had clawed the harbor as it passed.

‘What insane martial arts.’

If you looked closely, the caliber of the Sword Aura condensed on each of those fingers was on another dimension entirely.

‘Hmm…’

Seeing the 9th-tier power wielded by another with my own eyes, I was once again dumbfounded.

‘But why am I not afraid of that earth-shattering power?’

…Because I could do the exact same thing.

‘Our powers are probably similar.’

If that’s the case, the reason he is doing this is…

“I understand now, Dark King.”

I said, having lightly sidestepped that ‘giant’s claw mark.’

“What is it?”

“We have transcended. We have reached the realm of the 9th-tier. But.”

“But?”

A certain expectation was hidden in the Dark King’s question.

As if he had anticipated my next words and wanted to confirm them.

“You need the power of the Dragon Heart to achieve ‘perfect transcendence.’ Is that not so?”

Let’s say a being called a 'god' truly exists.

But even among gods, there must be a hierarchy of high and low.

Because I, too, know that ‘this is not the absolute peak.’

“Correct. I was furious at first, but I soon changed my mind. That is why I was waiting for ‘you, who has taken the Dragon Heart,’ to come.”

The Dark King pointed at me.

“Fortunately, it seems you have made it completely your own.”

The Dark King took a step toward me, and that step folded the earth, closing the distance in an instant.

“For me.”

The Dark King swung a jet-black sword that seemed to swallow even the sunlight, and I, too, unleashed my 9th-tier power and parried.

…

…For a moment, all sound ceased.

And then.

KWAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA!

The shockwave of the impact changed the terrain and annihilated those caught in it.

“Let us see your skill.”

We fought at a speed invisible to the eye, with a power not of this world, competing at a level of martial arts so profound it was unfathomable.

It was a battle between 9th-tier transcendents, and so everyone else became a bystander, unable to dare intervene.

KWAAAAAANG!

Sometimes with the power to shatter the earth.

SWIIIIIIISH!

Sometimes with a slash that tore through the void and space itself.

‘And sometimes.’

We swung swords that did not touch, and struck by stabbing into empty space where the other was not.

‘Thus, this is a battle fought in the future.’

I ‘discovered’ a single future from thousands of possibilities and responded to it.

Then, the Dark King, having ‘foreseen’ that possible response, would, in that instant, make a move that left no escape.

I would then ‘refuse’ that checkmate by dismantling it and parrying, returning the offense time and time again.

‘This is no longer in the realm of exchanging moves.’

Our intuition, insight, martial arts, imagination, and observation had reached such an extreme that we were now peering into the future.

“We have confirmed each other’s level. Now, shall we confirm something else?”

“What bullshit is that?”

A terrible Sword Cry erupted from the Dark King’s hitherto silent sword.

KIEEEEEEEEEEK!

The shriek tore at my ears and at the same time felt as if it were gnawing at my nerves.

The billowing black aura looked like the forms of countless screaming people.

“Ah, that is.”

“Horrifying.”

A sight so shocking that those watching the fight held their breath. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

“Disgusting, but a paltry trick.”

I countered the spirits flying in on the slash with a Ashen Celestial Dance, unleashed with almost no precursor.

KUGUGUGUGUGUGUGU!

A massive collision, a massive explosion, once again devastated the battlefield.

‘How tragic.’

This land had long since lost its function as a harbor, and the Dark King once again attacked me by unleashing all sorts of ancient demonic arts I had never seen or heard of.

‘Wow, shit. I feel like something bad will happen if I get hit by that.’

It was sinister and bizarre.

I thought about absorbing it with the Silent Night Soul-Soaking Divine Art to make it my own, but a strange intuition stopped me.

‘It takes a lot of power to digest a poison that strong.’

In that case, it was better to just dodge or cut it.

‘This won't do.’

I created footholds in the air, spread my Black Wings, and executed maneuvers impossible for either man or bird.

SWIIISH!

SHIIIIING!

Before I knew it, a pattern had formed where I was darting around busily, and the Dark King was standing firmly in place, receiving my attacks.

The Dark King, his eyes still closed, muttered in a low voice.

“How bothersome.”

The Dark King raised his hand to the sky.

“True Demon Primordial Formation.”

At that, a black sphere instantly swallowed us.

* * *

Ghouls shrieked.

Demons crushed the dead like toys.

Grudges, anger, and despair resonated as a sinister song.

[These are all the devils, vengeful spirits, and wicked men who were trapped within the Ebony Oath.]

The Dark King’s voice echoed from somewhere.

KIIIIII!

KIHIHIHIHI!

The insane ghost bastards swarmed me.

‘…Is this an illusion?’

Just in case, I closed my eyes.

Something immediately hit me in the back of the head.

PAAK!

“Shit, you scared me. I would have died if I hadn't put my aura over to protect my body.”

I stomped my foot, shattering the ghosts and driving them away.

[Can you not tell by expanding your senses? They are real. If you get stabbed, you die.]

“God damn it. So it’s that kind of formation?”

I drew my bracelet sword and rotated it with the subtlety of Sword Control.

KAGAGAGAK!

The devils caught in its path were instantly shredded.

“Get lost, you're disgusting!”

I drew my Mind Sword and swung.

A corner of the barrier was cut, and everything in the path of the blade was bisected.

“Come to think of it, son of a bitch.”

Over in the corner, I could see the ghosts of Gelberich and Huten.

“Schelde is here too.”

[I merely ‘collected’ them. In accordance with the contract.]

“You piece of trash. How despicably vicious.”

I felt an indescribable, complex emotion seeing the enemies I had killed with my own hands trapped in this formation as ghosts.

“Hahaha, Allenvert. Have you come?”

“Welcome.”

“Let’s go to hell together.”

“This place is hell. Kik, kik, kik.”

But that was that, and this was this.

“Who are you idiotic bastards to act so friendly.”

I crushed Huten’s head and destroyed Schelde with a palm blast.

As Gelberich tried to unleash his blood art, I used my Mind Sword to ‘cut his core’ and annihilated him.

“Does that mean they’ve died twice?”

[Yes. Completely annihilated. Even their souls. You are a cruel man.]

“That’s horrifying.”

If even the soul dies, reincarnation is impossible, isn't it?

‘…God damn it, come to think of it.’

What if I had accepted Ivan's offer long ago and taken the demonic arts? Or if I hadn’t died in an explosion fighting Ivan, but had been killed by the Dark King’s hand.

‘My soul might have been collected and trapped here.’

“…Huh.”

Could he have read my thoughts?

[Ivan did not die, I see. Did you trap him in another dimension? There was a similar art in your Grunewald’s martial arts.]

For the first time, I felt a chill run down my spine.

“This bastard, I thought he was just a shut-in, but he’s pretty damn creepy.”

‘And the most absurd part is.’

From the very beginning until now, not even once.

The Dark King had not opened his eyes.

“Your eyes. Does that mean you’re still holding back? Putting on a bluff until the very end.”

[It is not a bluff.]

The Dark King shook his head.

“Hah, I’m sure.”

[No, it is true. But it is likely not for the reason you are thinking.]

“What?”

…The Dark King opened his eyes.

His pupils were empty.

[I am blind, Allenvert.]

[Translator - Pot ]

[Proofreader - Kawaii ]