Ch.34Chapter 34 – Cerberus (2)

“Light!”

Finally succeeding in neutralizing his opponent’s gun and engaging in close combat, Shin Jaehyuk empowered his mace. The weapon, enveloped in holy energy, targeted Liu Changgeun’s chest. He intended to shatter the ominous heart that supplied demonic energy throughout the body.

Despite struggling to protect himself from the holy water, Liu Changgeun noticed the attack through the visual information from both his heads. He abandoned his defense against the holy water and focused on stopping his enemy’s approach. The two dog heads protruding from his shoulders attempted to bite Jaehyuk from both sides.

Jaehyuk was forced to abandon his heart attack and swung his mace to deflect one of the heads. Meanwhile, the other head approached close enough to breathe fire directly in his face. The flame mist mixed with its breath grazed past Jaehyuk’s back.

“Urgh!”

During this exchange, Liu Changgeun pushed his black heart to recover his body that was being corroded by holy water. His heartbeat accelerated, dramatically increasing the demonic energy production. The surge of energy was sufficient to restore his body that was dissolving in holy water.

His skin instantly melted away, regenerated, melted again, and recovered once more. Though he appeared undamaged, the burning pain throughout his body persisted, causing him to groan.

Yet the gang boss, hardened by countless battles, chose to fight through the pain. He spotted his opponent charging with a lowered stance. The exposed back, where clothes had slightly burned away, looked vulnerable. His hands, blackened with demonic energy, interlocked as he prepared to strike down on that back.

“Opening!”

“Radiance that banishes the unholy—!”

BOOM! A holy explosion from Jaehyuk’s body deflected Liu Changgeun’s downward strike and disrupted his stance. His arms were thrown wide open as if caught in a gale, exposing his front completely. Jaehyuk measured the distance, stepped in, and—diving into the open guard—delivered a left body blow!

“Gah!”

The enhanced fist struck Liu Changgeun’s ribs. The impact, as powerful as a speeding car, hit his lungs and shattered his ribcage. Bone fragments pierced his lungs, making breathing difficult. Jaehyuk didn’t miss his opponent’s momentary stiffness and swung his mace upward. Liu Changgeun barely managed to lean back, gasping. The mace tip narrowly grazed his chin.

Though his attack missed, Jaehyuk didn’t lose momentum and immediately raised his elbow to strike his opponent’s throat. With his balance completely disrupted, Liu Changgeun couldn’t avoid this. The elbow technique connected with his throat, blocking his airway.

Liu Changgeun staggered backward, nearly falling. Experienced in street fighting, he knew he would only be taking hits without being able to counterattack at this rate.

So he desperately attempted a counterattack. He used his left flame dog head as a cane to prevent himself from falling, while using the right poison dog head to keep his opponent at bay. Green toxic mist spewed from the hellhound’s throat.

“Huk!”

Jaehyuk, who had been rushing toward the retreating Liu Changgeun, saw the deadly poisonous air in his path and rolled sideways in panic. He might have charged through a flame attack, accepting burns, but poison of unknown potency was too dangerous to risk. He knew the dangers of poison well, having suffered greatly from various toxins when fighting Beelzebub in his past life.

Having gained time to recover, Liu Changgeun regained his composure. He coughed and spat blood. Though he was circulating demonic energy to heal himself, the damage to his lungs from the direct body blow hadn’t yet recovered.

“Kuhm, not bad. It’s been a while since someone pushed me this far.”

Liu Changgeun spoke with forced composure, trying to buy time to recover. Jaehyuk knew this but engaged in the conversation anyway. He needed to discover his purpose and who was behind him.

“What’s your objective?”

“To complete the plan according to the Great One’s command! Someone far greater and more powerful than you could imagine.”

The Great One? The demon who contracted with Director Heo! That demon seemed to have even the Black Snake Faction’s chairman under its control. There must be other contractors besides Director Heo and Liu Changgeun.

Jaehyuk recalled that before the fight began, Liu Changgeun had sent a message to someone called “VIP.”

“Who is this VIP? Another colleague who contracted with a demon like you?”

“…Hmph. You figured out that much. Quite clever. Very clever. If we hadn’t met under these circumstances, I would have immediately scouted you as my closest aide. What a shame.”

He rotated his stiff wrist. As expected of a Ma-in, his rough breathing had already returned to normal.

“I was just about to absorb and unite the gangster organizations in the metropolitan area. When awakened individuals gathered in Busan and the Red Dragon Faction grew rapidly, both my men and I felt threatened. With few awakened individuals in our organization, we feared we would eventually be consumed by them…”

“But doesn’t a bullet kill both normal people and awakened ones the same way?”

“What use is it that awakened individuals die when shot? Even if the Black Snake Faction increased gun supplies, if the other side also increased gun smuggling, we’d be back to square one. The outcome of a war between normal humans and awakened ones was obvious.”

He paused briefly, relaxing his combat stance. His eyes, recalling a certain moment, were filled with awe and reverence. Holy water from the sprinklers sizzled as it dissolved his body, but Liu Changgeun seemed to have forgotten even that pain.

“That’s when He came. Using a spider with a mouth on its body as a messenger, He offered a contract. He said His true form was too powerful to manifest in this world without a special ritual. He ordered me to cooperate with other contractors to complete the ritual, and in return, promised to give me subordinates as powerful as awakened individuals. What fool would refuse such an offer? Through Director Heo, He passed on knowledge of fusing humans with demons to create Ma-in, and Director Heo struggled through trial and error to understand this hellish knowledge.”

Liu Changgeun suddenly contorted his face and trembled with rage.

“The difficult research finally got on track, and we barely succeeded in turning a few trusted subordinates into Ma-in, but you killed them all! Along with Director Heo who could create Ma-in! It was finally our chance to counter the Red Dragon Faction!”

Black veins bulged on his neck where tendons protruded. An enraged demon glared at his enemy. But Jaehyuk’s attention was focused elsewhere.

“The human corpses in the harbor containers were sacrifices for demon summoning…!”

“Yes. My grand plan was proceeding smoothly until you ruined everything…

—But you won’t be able to ruin the greater plan!”

VIP! The message Liu Changgeun sent would surely prompt his unidentified colleague to hasten the high-level demon summoning. Time was critical. Jaehyuk gripped his mace tighter.

“I need to deal with you quickly and stop the ritual.”

“Hehehe. Try if you can—!”

With those words, Liu Changgeun leaped forward. Violent demonic energy raged in his fists. Disregarding the disadvantage of fighting while being hit by holy water, he swung his fists with the sole intention of killing Jaehyuk. His punches were faster and more threatening than before.

Jaehyuk also took a fighting stance. He switched the mace to his right hand and held it behind his shoulder, while his left hand assumed a boxing guard in front of his face. A stance to keep the opponent at bay with the left hand while looking for a decisive blow with the right.

“Hap!”

He used his left arm to deflect Liu Changgeun’s extended right hand outward. The flame dog head with fire in its mouth lunged at Jaehyuk. With a fluid left hook, he struck the dog’s eye. The eyeball burst, and the dog howled in pain.

A̴̢̧͔̣̺̪̠̠͎̭̼͋͑̕͠ȁ̵̦̳̩̜̣̞͉̦̯̟̙͉̬̥̋̓̋̌å̷̟̓̐͑̽́̉̈́́a̸̲͎͍͂́̽̈́͌̓̏̏͘͘͝ä̷̗̥̻͓́͛͝r̷̛̛͈͎̙̠̈̈͆͋͒̈́̈̒́͊̽͜ŗ̵̧̻̫̹͎̱̰̹̦̥̲̙̦͂̈͗̈́͜r̷̼̐̐̄̽̓̃r̵̥̖̩̠̤͇͎̜̻̞͕̰̔̑̒̑̾̕͜r̴̡̼͙̰̘̤̖̲̻̰͖̪͆̑̓͋̏͗̆̅͐r̵̨̝͍͍̩͐͆̿̋̍̏̍͠f̵͍̣͇̥͈̈́͂̀͑̐̀̉̄̌̃̈f̵̥̤̊̽̆̒̔̂̎̈́̆͘͝͝f̵͍͉̀̈́͊̽͐̅̉͌̍̐̎̈́̈͂͝ͅf̵̭͕͂̌͋̆̌̆̋̽̀̓͐̉f̴̘̹͎͊́̀̾̀͐̌͂̐̂̔͋͋̕͠!̷̡͔̦̰̼̆̾͂̈́͊͘͜!̷̛̲̇̊̈̈́͌̈́̀͑̋͜͝!̷̧̧͓̳̣̠̪̟͕̠͍̣͆̾̊ͅ

With each clash, Jaehyuk gained the advantage. The holy power imbued in his arms and weapon burned the Ma-in’s skin and tore his muscles with each contact. Yet to an outside observer, it might have appeared that Jaehyuk was being pushed back. This was because Liu Changgeun used not only his two arms and legs but also two demon heads.

For every punch Jaehyuk threw, Liu Changgeun threw two; for every swing of Jaehyuk’s mace, Liu Changgeun attacked with two hellhounds. Fighting Liu Changgeun felt like facing two masters simultaneously—two perfectly synchronized masters.

“If you think I’m weak without a gun, you’re mis-ta-ken!”

“Ugh!”

With each exchange of offense and defense, Jaehyuk grew increasingly anxious. He needed to defeat his opponent and stop the VIP from summoning a high-level demon, but he was struggling just to take down Liu Changgeun. At this rate, a top-tier demon would be summoned in the middle of Incheon.

But his opponent’s momentum was too fierce for a quick takedown. The way he burned his life force and relentlessly attacked with arms and heads was like facing Count Asura with four arms.

While blocking and dodging attacks, he flexed his empty hand. He missed his main weapon, the spear. His lightning spear was meant for throwing, not for wielding in close combat.

Fighting Liu Changgeun with just a mace was excruciating. Though his opponent would weaken over time due to the holy water, time was not on his side.

To defeat him, he needed to make a decisive move.

“Die here—!!”

With a wrist snap, he deflected a jab, blocked a low kick with his shin, and struck a dog’s eye with the round pommel at the end of his mace handle. Another eye burst. Just as he was about to counter with his mace, a high kick came flying, forcing Jaehyuk to quickly duck.

As he bent his waist, a dog head snapped at the air above his back. Fiery dog spittle splashed on his head. Looking down, he saw a puddle of water reflected in his vision—holy water from the sprinklers that had pooled on the floor.

This is it! He kicked the puddle upward. As intended, the splashed holy water droplets hit Liu Changgeun’s eyes.

“Argh, my eyes!”

‘Got him!’

With his main body’s eyes temporarily blinded, Liu Changgeun substituted his vision with that of the dog heads on either side. But since both heads had lost an eye each during the fight, the visual information was unstable. The confusing sense of depth made him dizzy.

Confirming his opponent’s disorientation, Jaehyuk leaped backward to create distance.

“Eloah, your light, through my hands!”

Reciting the aria, Jaehyuk maintained his balance mid-air and threw his lightning spear. Even in the chaos of battle, his throwing skill was precise. Lightning cut through the holy rain.

“This spell?!”

Hearing the familiar incantation, Liu Changgeun hastily protected himself with his dog heads. Unable to see where the spear was coming from, he covered his head and torso. The lightning spear, which had been aimed at Liu Changgeun’s heart, instead pierced the poison dog head’s skull. The lightning smoothly penetrated the skull and burned the brain.

“AAAAARRRRGGGHHH!!!”

As one dog head was shattered, Liu Changgeun and the flame dog head, sharing the pain, screamed in agony. He clutched his own head as if his main body’s head had been destroyed.

Though he hadn’t finished him in one blow, Jaehyuk’s eyes sharpened like a hawk spotting prey as he watched his opponent struggle to even stand.

‘Now!’

Jaehyuk lunged toward his staggered enemy. The flame dog head, sensing the approach, stretched its neck to protect its main body. A cornered dog tries to bite threats.

“I was already prepared for this—!”

Jaehyuk threw his mace into the wide-open mouth. The weapon flew straight, hitting the palate and rattling the brain. With the holy mace lodged in its throat, the dog head died instantly, unable even to scream.

“AAAHHH! You—!”

Liu Changgeun convulsed violently from the shock of consecutive losses. The pain that had just begun to subside surged again, making it impossible to regain his senses. The Ma-in’s body instinctively circulated demonic energy to recover from the injuries.

I can’t allow that. To prevent him from recovering, I need to burst his heart. Jaehyuk knew the method—the secret technique of unarmed combat he had learned for close combat: Penetrating Light.

“Die!”

He concentrated holy power on his palm, forming a swirling wave of light. He thrust his spiraling hand toward the defenseless opponent’s chest. As the palm technique made contact with the chest, concentrated holy power flooded into the Ma-in’s body like a torrent!

BOOM!

CRASH!

Direct hit! Liu Changgeun, struck in the heart by Penetrating Light, was thrown far back. The holy power tore his insides apart, preventing him from even breaking his fall. His body rolled across the floor like a rag doll, stopping only when it hit an obstacle.

“Urgh, cough.”

Leaning against a pillar, Liu Changgeun vomited blood. In a single strike, his heart was destroyed and his internal organs devastated. Such a dramatic effect wouldn’t have occurred on a normal human, but since he had replaced over half of his organs with demonic ones, the holy power that invaded his body was fatal.

“How could I… end like… this…”

With his heart destroyed and unable to generate demonic energy, his skin stopped regenerating. His body, soaked in holy water, melted disgustingly. The corpse silently dissolved into a murky puddle. Only tattered clothes here and there hinted that someone had once existed.

It was truly a wretched end for the chairman of a criminal organization that once ruled Incheon.

Jaehyuk didn’t spare a glance at the sight and rushed to the half-collapsed bartender’s table. He was in a hurry. He needed to track down this VIP character quickly! He snatched the phone from the headless bartender’s hand and checked the message sent.

「Things have gone wrong. The interferer is presumed to be a high-level awakened one. Execute the plan immediately, even if it’s early.」

“Damn!”

This was the worst-case scenario. Liu Changgeun, sensing his defeat even before fighting, had already sent a message to his colleague to execute the plan and had been stalling for time. By now, his colleague might already be performing the ritual…

Jaehyuk urgently pulled out his smartphone from his bag and made a call. The recipient was his faithful assistant, Lee Yujin.

“Oh, senior? What’s up in the middle of the night?”

“I have an urgent matter, can you help me?”

“Ah, I was in the middle of a game… Whatever. What is it?”

“Just trace a number for me. Right now.”