Chapter 126: An Immortal Being

Episode 126

Kim Jinsung and Karen were instantly engulfed in the explosion.

However, Kim Jinsung was unharmed as he had immediately enveloped himself in a mana shield the moment the explosion occurred.

“Ugh…!”

But Karen was lying on the ground, covered in blood and groaning in pain.

Shrapnel from the explosives was embedded all over his body, making him writhe in agony.

‘…He’s alive?’

Kim Jinsung stared at Karen’s struggling figure.

It seemed the armor he had obtained from killing Franco and his gang had played a significant role.

Most of the shrapnel was embedded in his armor, including his helmet.

“Ugh… Which… crazy bastards…!”

Karen couldn’t finish his sentence, _Did they really do this with Paladins patrolling?_

The pain was too intense for him to speak properly.

As Karen reached for a potion from his waist,

“Drink it quickly.”

Kim Jinsung said, drawing his sword.

“I think it’s the Triunfo guys.”

“……!”

Karen’s eyes wavered at the mention of Triunfo.

The smoke from the explosion began to clear, and their surroundings came into view.

They saw numerous unfamiliar figures surrounding them.

‘…They’re all muscleheads?’

Kim Jinsung tilted his head, surprised by their appearance, which was completely different from ordinary hunters.

They were wearing short outfits that revealed their arms and legs, showcasing their thick, prominent muscles.

Kim Jinsung didn’t let his guard down as he looked at their limbs, thicker than his own head.

Despite their comical appearance, reminiscent of cartoon characters, the aura they emanated was far from ordinary.

‘This is dangerous. They’re nothing like the guys we met earlier.’

Kim Jinsung raised his mana to the maximum.

They were undoubtedly the strongest enemies he had encountered in the New Continent so far.

“Hmm…”

The middle-aged man with a mustache, who was standing at the front, looked back and forth between the wanted poster he was holding and Kim Jinsung.

He then raised his head and shouted,

“…That’s them! It’s definitely them! Attack!”

The muscleheads all charged towards the two.

Kim Jinsung’s eyes widened.

The muscleheads were much faster than he expected.

‘They’re fast!’

He quickly jumped high into the air.

**Bang! Boom!**

The muscleheads’ fists landed consecutively where he had been standing, creating loud explosions.

The concrete was deeply shattered, as if a bomb had exploded.

Unlike Kim Jinsung, who had dodged swiftly, Karen was being pummeled by other muscleheads.

**Whack! Crack!**

“Ugh…!”

A series of punches landed squarely on Karen’s jaw.

As he collapsed, another musclehead pounced on him.

**Crunch!**

The musclehead grabbed Karen’s head with both hands and twisted his neck.

Karen’s neck was twisted 180 degrees in a grotesque manner.

As if that wasn’t enough, the musclehead punched his head with all his might.

**Thud!**

Half of Karen’s skull was shattered.

The musclehead stood up after seeing brain matter oozing out.

“One down.”

“Good. Let’s find the other one quickly and finish this.”

The group began searching the surroundings thoroughly.

But Kim Jinsung was nowhere to be found. He had used his Stealth skill while jumping into the air.

“Where did he go?”

“Do you think he ran away?”

“No. There’s no response on the radar we set up outside. He’s definitely still nearby.”

As the mustached man said, Kim Jinsung was still nearby.

He was floating in the air, looking down at the muscleheads.

‘How should I deal with them?’

The option of running away didn’t even cross his mind.

He knew they would relentlessly pursue him and make things troublesome.

Kim Jinsung looked at the wanted poster the mustached man was holding.

Two wanted posters with both his and Karen’s faces on them.

It was definitely distributed by the Triunfo Clan. There was no one else who would be after both him and Karen.

‘I can’t use dark energy…’

As he was racking his brain, he recalled the conversation he had with the exchange office owner earlier.

– …So, the Daehan Clan Paladins are especially vigilant and patrolling the entire B district!

‘…I should refrain from using the abilities I used at Colosseum.’

If he used the dark energy skills he had used at Colosseum and caught the attention of the Paladins, his life in the New Continent would become very difficult.

‘Let’s try using the Mist of Illusions first.’

Gray smoke emanated from Kim Jinsung’s body and began to descend towards the ground where the enemies were.

Some of the muscleheads, seeing the gray smoke, murmured in surprise.

“What’s that? It looks like the Mist of Illusions…”

“No way, right? Why would the Mist of Illusions be here, it’s not a Demon World Dungeon…”

The mustached man shouted at them.

“Just in case, drink your status ailment potions!”

At his command, the muscleheads all took out small potions from their waists and drank them.

The gray smoke then completely engulfed them, but none of them fell into a state of mental disturbance.

“He’s over there!”

The mustached man jumped high from his spot, reached Kim Jinsung’s location, and threw a punch.

‘Yikes!’

Kim Jinsung twisted his body and narrowly dodged, then immediately swung his sword.

It was too fast for the mustached man to react.

Kim Jinsung’s sword struck the mustached man’s bare arm.

**Clang!**

‘…Clang?’

Kim Jinsung looked at the mustached man with a bewildered expression.

Not only was he dumbfounded by the sound of metal clashing, but the spot where his sword had struck was completely unharmed.

‘How can his bare arm be that tough… Huh!’

He didn’t even have time to be surprised before he threw himself to the side.

Another musclehead’s fist, having jumped up, whizzed past the spot where he had been.

Kim Jinsung glanced down.

He saw the muscleheads continuously leaping towards him through the Mist of Illusions.

‘It’s not working at all.’

Kim Jinsung assumed that they had all drunk status ailment potions and deactivated the Mist of Illusions skill.

There was no point in maintaining it in this situation, it would only waste his mana.

‘Will this work?’

He then tried various elemental attacks using the ‘Mana Controller’ trait.

Numerous fireballs flew towards the enemies and exploded, an ice storm engulfed the entire battlefield, lightning struck intermittently, and earthquakes shook the ground.

But it was all useless.

“Hahaha! You think that will work on us?!”

The mustached man laughed mockingly and charged towards Kim Jinsung again.

The other muscleheads, also unaffected by the elemental attacks, continued to leap towards him.

Kim Jinsung clicked his tongue in frustration, seeing them unharmed.

‘What are their bodies made of?’

They weren’t injured by elemental attacks, nor by his close-range attacks in his ‘Union of Body and Demon’ state.

Moreover, their basic stats, such as running speed and punching power, were far beyond a certain level.

**Clang!**

Kim Jinsung blocked another musclehead’s punch with his sword.

‘Let’s see if this doesn’t work either!’

—

▶ You have used the ‘Organism Transformation’ skill.

▶ Transformed into ‘Mantodea’.

▷ Stat Change: Strength and Agility increased by 100%, Defense increased by 100%

▶ You have used the ‘Clone’ skill.

▶ You have used the ‘Clone’ skill.

▶ You have used the ‘Clone’ skill…

—

Mantodeas suddenly began to fall from the sky towards the muscleheads.

“W-what?!”

“They’re Mantodeas?!”

“How are Tainted Ones here…?”

The muscleheads murmured in disbelief, their eyes wide with shock.

The mustached man shouted at them,

“Don’t panic and focus on fighting!!”

The Mantodeas then charged towards the muscleheads.

A fierce battle ensued between the muscleheads, who had regained their composure, and the mantis-like Tainted Ones, the Mantodeas.

Kim Jinsung’s Mantodea clones outnumbered the muscleheads.

However, the muscleheads’ combat prowess was so exceptional that the battle remained evenly matched.

After a long time, the battle was still at a stalemate. Kim Jinsung, who was fighting the mustached man, inwardly marveled.

‘These bastards are real monsters.’

He had to admit it now. The muscleheads before him had the best physical abilities among all the enemies he had encountered so far.

Even Shin Woong would have to use his ‘All or Nothing’ trait at least twice in the state he was in before his death to achieve that level of power.

But in reality, the mustached man Kim Jinsung was fighting was also quite surprised.

‘How are Mantodeas, who only appear in Demon World Dungeons, here in reality… Ugh!’

**Clang!**

The mustached man hurriedly raised his gauntlet to block the Mantodea’s scythe attack.

He was already bewildered by the appearance of the Mantodeas, but they were even faster and stronger than the ones he had encountered in Demon World Dungeons.

Scratches began to appear on his main weapon, his gauntlet.

It was then that,

**Beep!**

“Cease fire! Cease fire!”

Everyone turned their heads towards the sound of a whistle coming from afar.

Two Paladins with the Taegeuk mark on their left chests were running towards them.

The mustached man shouted urgently,

“Run!”

The muscleheads scattered and fled in all directions.

One of the Paladins gritted his teeth.

“It’s those Nature Animal bastards!! I told them I’d kill them if they caused trouble one more time!!”

“No time to talk, let’s chase them!”

The Paladins began chasing after the fleeing muscleheads.

After they disappeared, no one remained in the alley where the battle had taken place.

Neither the numerous Mantodea clones nor Karen’s corpse.

* * *

‘…They’re going the other way. That’s a relief.’

Kim Jinsung, who had been the first to flee in Stealth mode upon spotting the Paladins, was observing the situation from the rooftop of a nearby villa.

‘Haa…’

He sighed in relief and relaxed as the Paladins disappeared completely.

‘It would have been a disaster if I had used dark energy skills.’

Honestly, towards the end of the battle, he had been tempted to use ‘Space Dominated by Dark Energy’.

But in the end, he was glad he had held back.

He then turned his head and looked at Karen, who was lying on the ground behind him.

“…Ugh.”

Karen was still groaning in pain.

His neck, which had been twisted 180 degrees, was back to normal, and his shattered head, with brain matter oozing out, had also healed considerably.

Kim Jinsung tilted his head, looking at the head wound, which was no longer bleeding.

‘How did he survive such a fatal injury?’

Karen had suffered injuries that would have normally resulted in instant death.

But he had survived. Even with his mana sealed and wearing hunter shackles.

‘This can only be explained by his unique ability.’

Kim Jinsung continued to look down at Karen with a changed expression.

—