Chapter 329: Spirit Training (4)
Meanwhile, Heukran’s eyes, seated atop the Flower of Ruin, glowed a deep crimson.
He unleashed a flurry of energy shaped like black throwing stars, all at once. This energy was formed from dark power.
‘The Flower of Ruin is making Heukran stronger. It’s acting like a buff,’ Kang-hoo immediately realized.
Then—
Clang! Clang!
He deployed the Wall of Perfection to block the projectiles.
Although the projectiles were condensed energy created with dark force, their power exceeded expectations.
Fsshhh!
As a result, his body was pushed backward.
Thanks to the Wall of Perfection, he blocked the attack cleanly—otherwise, he would have been cut in several places.The next moment—
Swish!
Heukran shifted position again and launched another barrage of dark projectiles at Kang-hoo.
With eyes even redder than before, the speed of the incoming projectiles far surpassed expectations.
He responded again with the Wall of Perfection, but this time he was pushed much farther back, and his entire arm went numb.
‘Wait. What if the buff isn’t only applied to Heukran?’
Kang-hoo reconsidered.
Even though Heukran had bloomed the Flower of Ruin, that didn’t necessarily mean the buff applied only to him.
If that were the case, it would be too one-sided. No challenger would choose this place as a battlefield.
Accelerating and leaping in succession, Kang-hoo headed toward the nearest Flower of Ruin.
Heukran looked startled by Kang-hoo’s sudden maneuver, but by then, it was already happening.
Then—
Shaaaaa…
“Hm.”
Once Kang-hoo landed on the Flower of Ruin, black energy began to envelop his entire body.
At the same time, he entered an awakened state.
Just like when he had taken an Awakening Pill, everything in the world felt vividly slow and clear.
“You were trying to keep this good stuff to yourself, huh? No way.”
Kang-hoo smiled, twirling his index finger side to side.
Instead of fearing the dark energy from the Flower of Ruin, he confidently absorbed it.
Feeling pressured, Heukran teleported to another Flower of Ruin.
But the teleportation mechanism didn’t trigger for Kang-hoo, who had absorbed the flower’s energy.
That was likely because Heukran, as the one who triggered the ability, could use it exclusively. Only he could teleport.
Kang-hoo recalled seeing a slight delay when Heukran first absorbed the energy.
After stepping onto the flower, it took about one second before the black energy began to absorb.
In other words, there was a full second during which interference was possible!
【Abduction】
“Kyah!”
Caught off guard by Kang-hoo’s unexpected abduction skill, Heukran was dragged away before he could settle atop the flower.
Of course, he wasn’t an easy target. Even while being pulled, Heukran had already prepared to counterattack Kang-hoo.
So rather than using the stone dagger in his hand, Kang-hoo stepped back to dodge.
He decided to let Heukran’s counterattack pass by with a beat.
Whoosh!
Heukran drew a sharp arc with his dagger, aiming for Kang-hoo’s neck, but it turned into a futile strike.
Meanwhile—
【Shallow Chaos】
【Shallow Flash】
Kang-hoo’s interference skills struck Heukran’s face one after another, disrupting and blinding his vision.
Exposed to the two skills with no time to dodge, Heukran lost his sense of direction and was temporarily blinded.
Hrrgh! Hrghh!
Even so, he kept swinging his dagger wildly in all directions, predicting Kang-hoo’s approach.
Rather than risking a counterattack, Kang-hoo aimed for more Flowers of Ruin nearby.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
From that point on, a strange scene unfolded—Kang-hoo, the challenger, absorbed more Flowers of Ruin than Heukran, their original user.
Each time Kang-hoo used a distraction skill, Heukran missed his window to absorb the flowers.
In the end, Heukran only managed to absorb about three flowers. Kang-hoo took all the rest.
As a result, he could feel his body growing stronger in real time, but there was a side effect.
It was a surge of wicked emotion that instantly wrapped around Kang-hoo’s inner self. In a way, it was his “true self.”
‘Refreshing honesty.’
Kang-hoo accepted the rising thoughts without denial, and his expression even brightened.
He felt like he was being completely himself. There was no guilt for thinking such thoughts.
But the content was dark.
In the vision created by the evil emotion, Kang-hoo gruesomely murdered those close to him—Park Dong-jae, Lee Ye-rin, Ayane, and An Yeong-ho.
He then stole their constellations and laughed with a face filled with joy.
The thrill of becoming stronger!
He indulged in the reward of killing. Just seeing the long list of stolen constellations made him proud.
And that wasn’t all.
He even imagined using Han Seo-yeon as bait to lure and kill Jang Si-hwan.
Sacrificing Han Seo-yeon to strike a fatal blow to Jang Si-hwan? It sounded like a highly profitable deal.
Thoughts so vile they couldn’t even be spoken aloud, much less shared publicly.
He still judged them to be ‘trash,’ but Kang-hoo thought they were honest, and that was what mattered.
He wasn’t confused by the emotion.
After all, he wasn’t some Apostle of Justice who pursued only virtue, nor an idiot who couldn’t distinguish good from evil.
They were simply thoughts he could have. It was okay because he had a solid mind that wouldn’t act on them.
“It looks like it’s my turn now.”
Kang-hoo smiled with satisfaction at having nearly monopolized the energy of the flowers while suppressing Heukran’s moves.
Now Heukran had no more tricks left. It would be a true duel.
Since he was now facing another assassin, the teachings of his master, Celestial Assassin, became more crucial than ever.
For assassins, defense and evasion weren’t the top priorities. Aggressive offense was always the highest priority.
Kang-hoo planned to fight in full accordance with this grand tenet. And the opening move of the all-out war—
【Collapse】
“Aagh!”
—began with Kang-hoo creating a massive pit beneath Heukran’s feet.
Indeed, Heukran was incomplete.
Though he possessed great power during the initial exchanges, he also showed a noticeably passive side.
Both of them were unfamiliar with each other’s abilities—not just Heukran, but Kang-hoo as well.
Since he knew nothing, Kang-hoo couldn’t tell what kind of attacks Heukran favored or how he created variables.
At times like this, it became a battle of momentum.
Unfamiliarity wasn’t a weakness—instead, it became a weapon. In other words, the one who acted aggressively gained the strategic advantage.
So, he launched a relentless offensive.
【Skewed Line of Distortion】
He deployed the Skewed Line of Distortion to guide Heukran’s path later.
Kiieeeeh!
Then he summoned a Corrupted Beast and sent it charging forward, drawing as much of Heukran’s attention as possible.
Perhaps startled by the sudden appearance of the Corrupted Beast, Heukran hurled projectiles at it instead of Kang-hoo.
Thanks to that, it became easier for Kang-hoo to close the gap between them again.
When Heukran suddenly realized how close Kang-hoo had gotten, he flinched and launched another condensed dark energy projectile.
【Petrify】
Now that he had a good sense of Heukran’s firepower, he could block the attack with Petrify instead of the Wall of Perfection.
It was a much more cost-effective way to defend.
【Qi Blast】
Then he deployed Qi Blast along Heukran’s predicted escape path, blocking his ability to move as intended.
As the pressure continued and the defenses stayed airtight, Heukran’s expression steadily hardened.
Having foolishly lost all the Flowers of Ruin he’d relied on, the power gap had effectively closed.
【Flame of Death】
Kang-hoo followed up by deploying the Flame of Death as a trap, creating a wall of threatening fire behind Heukran.
“…Tch!”
Judging that further evasive maneuvers were pointless, Heukran gritted his teeth and switched to offense.
‘Yeah, come at me.’
It was just what Kang-hoo had been waiting for.
His stone dagger looked a bit shabby, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t fight with it.
And so, close-quarters combat began.
As Heukran’s movements became even clearer to read, Kang-hoo let go of the last traces of tension.
The benefits of actively absorbing the Flowers of Ruin were definitely showing.
Moreover, Heukran had lost his cool in his rush, making his movements even more predictable.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
A fierce exchange erupted between Heukran’s dagger and Kang-hoo’s stone blade.
Naturally, the dagger had superior durability, so cracks began forming on the edge of Kang-hoo’s blade.
All the more reason—
For Kang-hoo to press the attack.
The moment his expression and movements showed that time wasn’t on his side, the tide would shift.
So he kept up an unrelenting barrage for several minutes—leaving no room for even a shallow breath.
Just as the sweat-soaked battle neared its peak, Kang-hoo pulled out his secret weapon to seize a single opportunity.
He doubted he’d get another clean shot at Heukran like this.
【Flying Heaven Strike】
Kang-hoo’s choice was Flying Heaven Strike.
It wasn’t suited to assassins who relied on finesse, which made it the perfect skill to create an unexpected turn.
Heukran, totally fixated on Kang-hoo’s dagger trajectory, didn’t notice the heavy strike coming from below.
It was Kang-hoo’s foot.
Crack!
“Guh…!”
Heukran let out a breathless moan as Kang-hoo’s foot slammed straight into his chin.
A gurgling mix of spit and blood poured from his mouth—his mouth was clearly wrecked.
Shaaaaaa!
Was the blow fatal?
Almost automatically, as if part of a preset trigger, Heukran launched himself high into the sky.
It felt less like a voluntary move and more like a preset pattern triggered when his HP dropped below a certain threshold.
Dark energy rapidly wrapped around his body, transforming into sharp, bristling thorns.
With eyes brimming with madness and hair whipping through the air, Heukran flung the thorns down at Kang-hoo.
Like a hellish thorn rain from the sky, the spikes were thick and long.
And at that moment—
【Cutieeee!】
Kang-hoo revealed his hidden card. He had always planned to use it in just this kind of moment!
Dun dun!
A massive slime proudly emerged between Heukran and Kang-hoo, filling the forward view entirely.
The rain of spikes falling from the sky began to pierce the slime’s massive body.
That’s when the real problem started—
Well, from Heukran’s point of view. From Kang-hoo’s perspective, it was glorious.
…
Heukran fell silent upon seeing that none of his thorns had passed through the giant slime.
Its transparent body revealed the interior, now filled with countless embedded thorns.
Not a single spike made it through to reach Kang-hoo beyond.
His ultimate strike hadn’t been blocked by Kang-hoo himself but by a cute slime he summoned.
Sigh…
Overwhelmed by helplessness rising from the pit of her stomach, Heukran let out a deep sigh.
Something had clearly gone terribly wrong.
And in the middle of it all, Kang-hoo, who had been behind the slime, had disappeared.
While Heukran had lost sight of him, Kang-hoo had already launched himself from below her feet.
“My turn.”
Now the tide of battle had turned.