Ch.82That Bastard Will Never Win!

“That, that guy is Laohui?!”

“Huh? You know him?”

“Know him? That guy is extremely dangerous!”

On the last remaining Triad warship, Han Jaewon spoke in a tense voice as he saw the imposing elderly man with white hair who had appeared on the deck—Laohui.

“That man, despite being human, was accepted as a subordinate by Han Shinwoo in my world. He’s the real deal.”

“Laohui? I feel like I’ve heard that name somewhere… Dorothy, do you know anything?”

“Eek?! L-Laohui Zhaodong?! I only know that he became the first National Authority-Level Hunter of the People’s Republic of China when the Communist Party first took power…”

“But he’s just National Authority-Level, right? Shinwoo is National Disaster-Level. Is this really something to be worried about?”

According to Dorothy, he was certainly an impressive figure, but then again, Katarina herself was a National Authority-Level figure from a developed country.

And she wasn’t someone who didn’t understand the heaven-and-earth difference between herself and the kaijufied Shinwoo.

“Why are you so worried about this?”

Katarina turned to look at Han Jaewon, who was sweating profusely, with a puzzled expression.

But.

“Ms. Katarina! Please open the hatch right now!”

“What? You want to go out there when everything’s over?”

“It’s not over! If Laohui activates that technique now…!”

Han Jaewon knew all too well about Laohui’s capabilities—the man whom Han Shinwoo not only spared but even appointed to an executive position in his kingdom, despite reducing future humans to a status lower than insects.

He wanted to get out of the submarine immediately to prevent the impending tragedy.

However, there were numerous lives standing on the deck of the warship besides those two.

Which meant…

Rumble—!

“What’s that?”

“I-is it an earthquake?!”

“…! No. This is…!”

It meant that the ‘conditions’ required for him to use his ability had been fulfilled from the start.

Inside the submarine, which shook momentarily as if a massive earthquake had struck, Han Jaewon collapsed into his seat with a look of despair.

“We were wrong… Ms. Katarina. We were too complacent!”

“What’s happening? Explain properly.”

“Laohui, of all people! Damn it… The security around the palace executives’ backgrounds was so tight that I couldn’t investigate everything before coming to the past. I never imagined we’d be caught off guard like this!”

If he had known Laohui was with the Triad fleet…

From the beginning, he would have teamed up with Han Shinwoo, however reluctantly, to take him down together.

After all, Laohui’s technique was a domain deployment for a single individual—a “barrier skill.”

“Laohui is a Barrier Hunter, a class as rare as Beast Hunters.”

“Barrier Hunter? You mean those guys who trap enemies in their own world?”

“Yes. And Laohui’s barrier is… the worst natural enemy for Han Shinwoo.”

“The worst…”

“Natural enemy, you say?”

A natural enemy to the monster of Jamsil who was more monstrous than any monster?

Just hearing this, both Katarina and Dorothy could only wear puzzled expressions.

But since he came from the future and knew everything…

“I can assure you. Unless we’re talking about the future version, the current Han Shinwoo will either be dead or nearly dead when the barrier is lifted.”

Han Jaewon prophesied Han Shinwoo’s defeat as if pronouncing a death sentence.

***

“Each warship carries 5,000 soldiers.”

“…?”

“And now, I will create a barrier using the lives of my 500 subordinates who survived until the end on this deck as sacrifices!”

“Grrrr…?”

‘A barrier…?’

“Welcome, Black Monster. I’ll specially let you into my world!”

Without the slightest hesitation, Laohui swung his arm and slashed the throats of all his loyal subordinates, then shouted toward the sky where dark clouds were gathering, as if making an offering to a god.

“Barrier Technique – Absolute Fairness!!”

“Tsk!”

At the same time, a hazy mist began to fill Shinwoo’s vision.

‘A barrier, huh…’

His name was definitely Laohui Zhaodong.

He seemed to be a character I had never encountered even in the game, beyond my veteran knowledge.

However, when he mentioned the word “barrier” just now, I clicked my tongue in annoyance at the troublesome situation.

After all, of all things, a Barrier Hunter?

‘I hope this isn’t the start of another puzzle game.’

Barrier Hunter.

They were a very annoying Hunter class that always required some sort of sacrifice before they could fight.

Just as Laohui had sacrificed the lives of his subordinates behind him to activate the barrier, they were the weakest Hunter class individually, unable to even pull their own weight alone.

But once they paid the price and activated their barrier, they showed OP-level performance, considered the strongest among Hunter classes.

After all, activating a barrier meant being able to bring the opponent into my domain.

My own world that I created.

It meant fighting in a world most advantageous to me, where I could do whatever I wanted.

That’s why when a Barrier Hunter activated their ability, people usually lost their fighting spirit and begged for their lives.

But who am I?

‘Let’s get right into solving this barrier.’

In the game <Hunter’s Blood>, praised for its smooth action and high impact feel, the only part that required using your brain was the so-called puzzle section.

I was the one who shared barrier-solving methods to keep newbies from quitting when the game genre suddenly changed from fighting to puzzle-solving.

“Grrrr…?”

‘Time to use my brain after a long… Huh?’

I was about to start solving this like a VR puzzle game, but…

“You’ve arrived?”

I found myself standing in the middle of calm waters.

The beautiful Milky Way spread across the sky, and I was facing Laohui in what looked like some kind of paradise.

“Most Barrier Hunters hide themselves after activating their barrier and slowly torment their enemies in their world. But my world is a bit different.”

True to his words.

If you could just hit the main body even after the barrier was activated, the puzzle-solving aspect would be meaningless.

Normally, a Barrier Hunter would hide themselves, right?

As I tilted my head in confusion while looking at Laohui…

Tap-tap-tap-tap!

“Grrrk?!”

He was fast.

As if Laohui had abilities on my level.

Caught off guard, I was kicked in the face and sent flying backward.

“Grrrrrr…?!”

“Huff. Surprised? I guess you would be. With my original abilities, it would have been impossible to hurt you.”

Tap. Tap.

My face felt hot, so I touched it.

And then I was speechless at the fact that I was having a nosebleed for the first time since my kaijufication.

“This is the power of my domain—the World of Absolute Fairness. The abilities of the two people who enter here are equally changed to all stats 1.”

“Grrrk?!”

‘All stats 1?’

“Kuk kuk. Yes, as you’ve probably noticed, we’re both at the level of ordinary humans here. But!”

Swoosh!

Bang!

As I got up, Laohui demonstrated his “martial arts” with flashy movements, warning me, a mere monster.

“A monster with the same abilities as a human. The reactions of you creatures, whose only advantage is overwhelming strength compared to humans, are always the same when trapped in this world.”

“……”

“Kuk kuk kuk. You’ll soon die in that helpless state too, Black Monster.”

As he finished speaking, Laohui’s Shaolin flying kick once again descended upon the Monster of Jamsil.

***

Monsters’ fighting methods were truly simple.

If they had claws, they slashed; if they had teeth, they bit—the epitome of brute force without any technique.

Yet, when first-class Hunters faced monsters of the same rank, they always struggled.

This was simply because of the overwhelming physical difference between humans and monsters.

And this world equalized the physical abilities of both species to “1.”

Like a legalized arena that strictly adheres to rules and weight classes.

Laohui, the master of this world, had sacrificed the lives of his 500 subordinates who had survived until the end on the battleship.

With each life granting 1 second of activation for his World of Absolute Fairness barrier, he could use it for 500 seconds.

For nearly 8 minutes…

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

“Haha! How do you like it? This is Chinese martial arts with 4,000 years of history!”

As always, he was happily beating up the monster who had become an ordinary human and didn’t know what to do.

“This is the Praying Mantis style! This is Shaolin style! This is Tai Chi!”

The monster, bent at the waist and unable to even raise its arms, was just taking the beating.

Seeing the National Disaster-Level monster that had sunk 9 warships unable to even look up at him, Laohui laughed so hard he could barely breathe.

A monster is still a monster.

Even though it was humanoid, that actually made the World of Absolute Fairness barrier even more effective.

The characteristic of humanoid monsters was their overwhelming strength despite their small build.

But in this barrier, its abilities were exactly the same as an ordinary person’s.

Here, it was just a weak ordinary person who had never properly thrown a punch.

Laohui was targeting its face, solar plexus, sides, and abdomen, intending to end the fight soon.

“Haha! You can’t even counterattack, can you?!”

And so 1 minute passed.

2 minutes.

3 minutes.

“Y-you… huh…?”

After about 5 minutes had passed.

Clearly the opponent was just taking hits, and he had the overwhelming advantage, but he was getting tired simply because his stamina had been reduced to that of an ordinary person.

“Huff… huff…”

Steadfastly.

Even after kicking what appeared to be its male genitals, it was still standing in the same position as when it first got hit.

“……”

“I-is it dead?”

Seeing the creature still standing after 5 minutes, with blood and saliva dripping from its mouth, the exhausted Laohui tried to check its condition.

But then.

Grin.

“?!”

Like a battle maniac happy to meet a worthy opponent after a long time.

“S-smile…?”

The Black Monster was looking at him with a terrifying toothy grin, as if asking if it was over already.

From that moment, cold sweat began to flow from Laohui’s body, not just from exhaustion but from instinctual fear.