Ch.143Chapter 143. Before Things Get Bigger (5)

BOOM! BOOM!

Satan’s attack, having transformed into a beast, was too fast to follow with the naked eye.

Faster than any being I’d encountered on the Arcaria Continent.

The black mass lunged at me, approaching even quicker than I could process.

“Whoa!”

BOOM!

I never expected him to fight with such a crude and aggressive method.

I hate to admit it, but Satan had quite a handsome and dignified appearance, so I never anticipated he would charge at me like this.

THUD-

“Ugh!”

The sudden pain in my stomach nearly made me lose consciousness.

I tried my best to avoid his attacks, but ultimately couldn’t dodge everything.

I clearly remembered evading his brutal attack by moving into the air, but somehow he had already leaped up in front of me.

‘Damn it.’

I barely maintained my concentration while hazily watching Satan’s paw-like fist coming to strike me.

Turn crisis into opportunity.

Just as I was about to slice off Satan’s front paw with spatial cutting after he had successfully landed a hit on me—

THUD-

“Tch.”

Somehow Satan sensed my intention and pulled back just as I was about to sever his front paw.

At least his retreat spared me from taking consecutive hits.

Quickly regaining my stance and planting my feet on the ground, Satan charged at me again.

Satan, transformed from human form into a beast surrounded by dark energy, seemed to have changed his nature along with his appearance.

He kept charging relentlessly like a ferocious wolf.

Woong- Woong- Woooong-

The sound of space vibrating, opening and closing continuously, echoed all around, while Satan’s front paws barely missed me.

It was a situation where just avoiding his attacks was overwhelming.

I naturally assumed he wouldn’t engage in close combat knowing I had teleportation abilities.

That was completely my prejudice.

I never expected him to push me into a speed battle that I could barely keep up with.

‘This is…’

BOOM- WOOOONG- BOOM-

Only the sounds of destruction from Satan’s kicks and the trembling of space continued to echo.

I instinctively realized something.

The longer this continued, the more disadvantaged I would become.

I wasn’t sure about Satan’s stamina, but my concentration definitely had limits.

I hadn’t even landed a proper spatial cut—the only technique Satan feared—and my head was already feeling heavy from consecutive teleportations.

‘This is getting dangerous.’

CLANG!

The beast-form Satan’s claws collided with my Black Shadow Sword, pushing me far back.

A brief moment of respite.

Though it was a short time, I needed to find a solution during this momentary break.

‘First, I absolutely cannot leave this place.’

I wanted to escape to another space at this moment, but if I did, it was obvious what would happen to Elaine who remained on the island.

Retreat was not an option.

That meant I somehow needed to deal with him right here, right now.

“Hmm.”

A low groan escaped my lips without me realizing it.

Naturally, no easy solution came to mind.

The most promising method was…

‘Reducing the casting time of spatial cutting.’

This was the ultimate goal I’d been training hard for recently.

To reduce the 2-second delay as much as possible so I could send Satan through a spatial rift the moment my gaze fell on him.

If I could shorten the time during combat, I’d have a good chance of winning.

No matter how quickly Satan pounced on me in beast form, he couldn’t physically move faster than what my eyes could see.

‘And to do that…’

Instinctively, I realized what I needed to do.

After falling onto the Arcaria Continent, for several years I purely used my “teleportation” ability just for “movement.”

The catalyst that made me use space differently was a single incident.

When I was exploring the northern part of the continent alone, without proper skills.

Like any reckless adventurer, I faced a crisis.

A swarm of wyverns I encountered deep in the mountains where no one could help me.

Not just a few, but an entire swarm targeting me—I was in a truly desperate situation.

Though slightly different, the environment was similar to my current predicament.

In that moment when attacks came too quickly for me to even think of a proper teleportation destination…

I threw myself into space without even properly visualizing a destination.

That was the first time.

The moment I somewhat understood the principle behind my teleportation ability.

My teleportation ability was about jumping between spaces.

When I threw myself into space without a clear destination, what welcomed me was the space between spaces.

The so-called “subspace.”

After staying in subspace for just a few seconds and coming back out, I became more attuned to “space.”

Not only did I become better at using my ability, but eventually I reached the level where I could use subspace as storage.

Through this process, what I clearly realized was that staying in subspace was extremely dangerous.

It was a very brief time, but just staying there instead of passing through made my mind feel hazy.

It felt like being forcibly put to sleep.

If I had stayed there blankly for a few more seconds, I probably would have disappeared within that space.

Thanks to that experience, I could use my ability in more diverse ways, but it was a sensation I didn’t want to experience again.

Who would want to feel their very existence gradually disappearing?

But now it seemed I had no choice.

Enter subspace once more, specifically the space I had “cut.”

I had a strong feeling that if I did that, I would sense something like last time.

“Ah, seriously. This is the last thing I wanted to do.”

<This is truly the end, kid>

Satan put strength into his hind legs, about to leap at me again with those final warning-like words.

And at the moment Satan moved his feet to charge at me.

It was a gamble with absolutely no certainty, but I had no choice now.

Woong-

Just before Satan reached me, I cut the space before my eyes and simultaneously threw myself into it.

Into the rippling, blurring space.

**

BOOM!

‘Hmm?’

It was the same gesture of sweeping through empty air and destroying nothing but the ground, but something felt subtly different.

Unlike before, it felt like Ryuyeong’s presence had completely disappeared.

Saaaa-

Satan, sensitive to even the slightest change, calmly surveyed the surroundings, but Ryuyeong didn’t reappear anywhere.

‘Did he run away?’

Satan quickly assessed the situation.

He crossed through space and disappeared, but didn’t reappear in the vicinity.

That could only mean one thing.

He had fled from this place.

“Hmph.”

Satan chuckled softly as he instantly reverted from his beast form covered in dark energy back to his human appearance.

To think he would abandon his companion and flee alone.

It was unexpected, but not an incomprehensible decision.

Humans are beings who do anything for their own benefit.

It was disappointing not to have dealt with Ryuyeong, but he could just take care of the other person left on the island instead.

Moreover, after the recent battle, Satan was half-convinced.

With his current abilities, he could definitely defeat that guy who used powers similar to Crescen’s.

His judgment to resolve the situation before it escalated had been correct.

If that guy had grown a bit more and become as strong as Crescen, he wouldn’t have been able to push him into such a defensive position so easily.

“I don’t need hostages anymore.”

Satan, now confident, silently tracked the traces of the woman who had fled to the edge of the island.

She seemed to be trying to escape the island somehow, but she was still there.

WHOOSH-

With a sound of bursting air, Satan instantly moved to where Elaine was.

Elaine seemed startled by Satan’s sudden appearance but quickly composed herself and raised her sword.

“In the end, you were abandoned.”

“What?”

“That guy just ran away and left you behind.”

Despite Satan’s words, Elaine’s expression didn’t change in the slightest.

Seeing Elaine’s face full of trust, Satan’s lips curled up even higher.

This was exactly the kind of scene he enjoyed.

The human emotions that emerge when betrayed by someone they firmly believed in.

Just imagining it was thrilling.

“I don’t believe the words of a demon.”

“Fine, suit yourself.”

Swoosh-

As Satan reached out toward Elaine, she raised her sword in an attempt to resist.

CLANG- CRACK!

“Kyaa!”

Of course, that was impossible.

Elaine’s sword, which had blocked the magic Satan casually fired, couldn’t withstand the energy and broke immediately.

Surprised by her sword breaking, Elaine lost her grip on the handle.

Satan slowly approached the now disarmed Elaine.

With Ryuyeong having fled, there was no rush.

He had plenty of time to enjoy the fear this woman was experiencing before finishing her off.

“Thanks to him showing up early, I have more time now.”

Satan smiled darkly as he watched Elaine’s face grow increasingly pale.

It was always enjoyable to witness human emotions gradually changing right before his eyes.

Elaine’s expression had become completely rigid at some point and stopped changing.

Just as Satan’s hand reached out toward Elaine.

Woooong-

Space resonated.