Chapter 223: Clue
In the battle that resud, the one who seized the initiative was the Half-Human Half-Insect.
Since Baek Woohyun, who used a supernatural ability build based on [Perfect Being], had virtually no long-range attack capabilities, it was perfectly natural for the Half-Human Half-Insect, which possessed dozens of freely extending and contracting tentacles, to exercise control.
Kwa─a─a─!
The tentacles spread wide as if representing the Half-Human Half-Insect's will to eliminate Baek Woohyun by any ans necessary!
The offensive that completely covered the space itself was truly terrifying. The independently moving tentacles made it difficult to even find room to dodge.
She was indeed a powerhouse who had reached Hellhound before becoming a Half-Human Half-Insect. The writhing tentacles showed none of the inexperience from their first clash.
Her current tentacle manipulation was even more perfect than the Hunting Dog fusion monster's. Despite having more tentacles. This ant she was handling four people's worth, or perhaps even more, all alone.
=Tsk!=
Thinking about it, the Half-Human Half-Insect had just erged after completing her tamorphosis at that ti. And even that had been significantly interfered with by Baek Woohyun.
So it wouldn't have been strange at all if she'd been sowhat clumsy at handling the tentacles. Moving dozens of newly grown arms would have been quite difficult.
It was simply astonishing that even in that state, she had handled the tentacles at a level difficult to easily approach.
Kwa-ak-
Baek Woohyun's two eyes, gripping the sword hilt tightly, burned pure white as if glowing in the darkness.
Since 「Soul Eater」 was a 2-ter-long greatsword, he couldn't deflect and redirect the tentacles with the skilled handling he used with the military dagger.
However, that didn't an 「Soul Eater」 was inferior to the military dagger. A greatsword simply had its own thods.
eting them head-on and cutting through everything—wasn't that what a greatsword was all about!
=──!=
The step he took with a battle cry left a deep kwa-jik- mark on the ground, and the axis that would be the core of his slash was firmly fixed.
Through this, the flow from foot to knee, then to waist, continued without interruption. Of course, it grew stronger as it rose upward.
Thus, when the torrent finally reached the arm gripping 「Soul Eater」, the power contained within was truly worthy of being called the incarnation of destruction.
Hu─u─ung─!
Kwa─ja─ja─jak─!
=Iik!=
The Half-Human Half-Insect's offensive was like pushing against a massive cliff, but before Baek Woohyun's swinging 「Soul Eater」, it was aningless.
For his greatsword truly contained the power to split even a cliff in two. To block this, one would need to throw an entire mountain at it.
The crimson-stained blade rcilessly cut through the violet tentacles. It was a slash that seed to threaten: if there's no room to dodge, I'll carve it out myself.
U─jik─!
=···!=
However, that didn't completely block all of the Half-Human Half-Insect's tentacles. There were over dozens of tentacles but only one 「Soul Eater」 in Baek Woohyun's hands.
Just like when he faced her with the military dagger, in the end, he had no choice but to allow the attacks he had to allow. It was physically impossible to cut everything down.
That was why one tentacle managed to strike his side.
=···Bearable=
Even though the largest wound was struck again, Baek Woohyun smiled faintly. As he said, it was at a level he could more or less endure.
This was surely thanks to 「Soul Eater's」[third effect: 'Recovers health equal to a portion of the damage dealt by Soul Eater'].
No matter how minor the effect, every little bit adds up, so it made sense that his health had recovered considerably after cutting down most of the dozens of tentacles.
=Huu=
Kwa-ak-
······And that, in other words.
ant that as long as he could keep cutting, he could sufficiently handle taking one or two hits.
Baek Woohyun, gripping 「Soul Eater's」 hilt tightly once more, advanced toward the Half-Human Half-Insect without hesitation.
Neither the blood dripping down and pooling at his feet, nor the necrotic muscles and cracked bones screaming, could stop him.
Based on his experience 'over there', he knew that wounds of this degree wouldn't kill him yet.
=Die! I said die!=
Kwa─ja─ja─jak─!
U─jik─!
「Soul Eater」 cutting down dozens of tentacles at once, and tentacles sohow slipping through the gaps trying to break Baek Woohyun!
Blue blood and red blood scattered endlessly through the air of the 'stopped world'. As many tentacles as the Half-Human Half-Insect had cut off, Baek Woohyun had also bled just as much.
With each slash, a mist mixed with blue and red rose in all directions. Their battle was that desperate.
=···!=
Uk─ssin─!
Naturally, Baek Woohyun was feeling trendous pain. He was already covered in wounds, moved roughly, and the tentacles had struck him besides.
The longer the battle lasted, the paler his face beca. The dizzying pain and trendous blood loss finally showed on his complexion.
The surprising fact was that even amid all this, his expression remained as impassive as ever. Though that actually made him look more like a plaster statue than a person.
However, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Rather, his appearance conveyed an intense sense of intimidation to the Half-Human Half-Insect.
After all, who wouldn't be afraid of a monster approaching slowly with a pale face, not even batting an eye, completely ignoring the safety of its own body?
One step, one step, another step. The natural disaster in human form gradually drawing closer felt absolutely unavoidable.
=···To ···=
Jeo─beok─
No matter how wounded, it doesn't stop.
No matter how hard pushed back, it keeps approaching.
Baek Woohyun, this bleeding death, pressed down on the Half-Human Half-Insect with terrible fear.
Even Abrasax-Deus behind her couldn't intervene. Having already broken the balance with too much interference, it could no longer penetrate Isaac.
Therefore, what remained was purely a fight between the two entities.
A fight between the 'Superhuman' Isaac brought and the 'Half-Human Half-Insect' Deus created.
Which side was advantageous was as clear as day.
=Don't co near ─!=
Ku─o─o─!
The violet tentacles forming wings created massive ripples. It was a wave containing the power to sweep away all the red and blue blood mist scattered around.
Before the attack approached while cleanly annihilating the surroundings as if erasing them with an eraser, Baek Woohyun advanced with the sa calm expression.
Even though he knew full well that if he didn't retreat, he would be swept up in the ripples and suffer wounds far more terrible than now.
If soone were to ask him why, he would shrug and answer:
=Still won't die though, right?=
[Perfect Being] had an effect that increased supernatural ability resistance. And it was a large enough increase to rit the description of 'very greatly'.
Moreover, this increased additionally based on level, and combined with other Core Elents, Baek Woohyun's current supernatural ability resistance was quite high.
High enough to endure [Annihilation Ripple] containing otherworldly power for several tens of minutes.
Ku─o─o─!
=Kahak!=
Starting from the skin touching [Annihilation Ripple], he began lting, and the burning pain generated there montarily turned Baek Woohyun's mind pure white.
The burning pain, called the greatest pain a human can feel, was difficult for even him to endure after chewing through countless pains.
His high supernatural ability resistance made the torture-like ti stretch even longer. The pain of slowly burning and lting away from head to toe continued.
Yet still.
=──!=
Baek Woohyun's steps still didn't stop.
He led his slowly burning body forward toward the Half-Human Half-Insect. Even while shedding bloody tears from his inverted eyes with reversed black and white, he remained steadfast.
It was clearly willpower beyond human. Befitting a Superhuman who had uniquely reached the realm of transcendence among billions of humans.
=No, no, no!=
=······=
=Don't co! I said don't co!=
Ku─o─o─!
Jeo─beok─
Baek Woohyun stood before her, enduring even the firepower the Half-Human Half-Insect added in desperation, and smiled faintly.
Though his entire body was still burning away, he had sufficient strength to swing 「Soul Eater」.
anwhile, the Half-Human Half-Insect, pouring all her power into [Annihilation Ripple], had no ans to resist.
=It's over=
=No!=
Seo─geok─!
The blade of 「Soul Eater」, emitting an eerie red light even within [Annihilation Ripple], cut through the Half-Human Half-Insect with her compound eyes wide open.
A single line running precisely from crown to crotch split her in half, and her final cry beca her last words.
The violet tentacles lting and disappearing proved that there was no pretending death or such. Baek Woohyun had finally achieved victory.
Perhaps if the Half-Human Half-Insect had attempted stronger physical attacks using her tentacles, if she had rushed in with her main body as she did before, the story might have been different.
But what she chose was a thod of wielding otherworldly power as a supernatural ability. Just like the other ability users he'd seen before.
Before becoming a Half-Human Half-Insect, she had been a powerful ability user who reached Hellhound, so in a way, this outco could be seen as a natural conclusion.
"···Haaa···."
Baek Woohyun, having erged from the 'stopped world' along with the Half-Human Half-Insect's death, exhaled a long breath.
Terrible, horrible, insane, unbearable—extre pain that couldn't be expressed with any adjective was felt from his entire body.
It was so intense that even he, who could laugh off considerable pain, had to regulate his breathing as much as possible and try to suppress the pain.
'This might kill .'
The wounds from fighting the Hunting Dog fusion monster, wounds from the Half-Human Half-Insect's tentacles, plus his entire body lting from [Annihilation Ripple].
Even now, otherworldly power lingered like radiation, preventing recovery and worsening the condition. Like the Half-Human Half-Insect's curse.
Realizing this, Baek Woohyun had reason to sense his own death. Even a Superhuman build based on [Perfect Being] would die from this level of injury.
Uung-
"···Hm?"
It was precisely then that white light particles began pouring out from the Half-Human Half-Insect's corpse, split in two.
The unidentifiable light particles floated and clung to Baek Woohyun's burn-covered skin, then were absorbed completely.
Having no strength left even to avoid them, he watched this and soon noticed one fact.
'I'm recovering.'
The light particles were healing Baek Woohyun's devastated body.
Very quickly and surely.
'─No, it's more than that.'
Baek Woohyun gazed at his hand returning to its original form, enveloped in light particles. Within it, he could feel 'power' even mightier than before.
It was clearly different from the power generally felt when using supernatural abilities. He could tell because he was soone who used abilities at will without any corrections.
Moreover, he had experienced this kind of power before. 'Over there', only he alone, this power that no other test subject had felt!
"···!"
Baek Woohyun had once thought of the word 'tamorphosis' when seeing the Half-Human Half-Insect born from a cocoon.
tamorphosis ant insects or pupae becoming winged adults, which in essence contained the aning of an inferior existence becoming more superior.
──Just like how humans are reborn as Superhumans through 'Transcendence', becoming existences beyond human.
'Is this the clue to Transcendence that Isaac prepared?'
Baek Woohyun clenched his fist tightly.
The harsh burning pain still tried to eat away at him, but he no longer paid it any mind.
He had to pour all his ntal energy into controlling the 'power of Transcendence' that was being generated and trying to overflow through the absorption of light particles.
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