A body with no eyes, nothing but green all over.
Two mouths where hands should be.
Adding the mouth at the end of its tail, it was a bizarre form with four mouths in total.
Spikes jutted from its shoulders, and the same was true of its neck.
Its build looked to be only a little smaller than the Sea King.
However.
The presence radiating from that muscular body was not even comparable to that “thing” called the Sea King.
“………….”
…It comes back again.
Overwhelming force.
Absolute power.
Being strangled, being blown away by nothing more than the wind pressure created by its movement.
The memory of my entire lower body and a third of my upper body being blown off by the aftermath of a missed punch.
Hopeless.
Uncrossable.
And now, still, a wall that feels like it can’t be surpassed.
Dragon-level.
“Heh heh heh... what’s wrong? Aren’t you going to attack? You look scared of me.”
Scared?
Of you?
Of course I am. Damn it.
My hardened body, which had reached the point where it could easily withstand the Sea King’s flurry of blows, was shattered by a grazing attack.
One direct hit and I’d be dead on the spot.
“...No way. Your face is so ugly I froze up for a second.”
Taking a stance, I threw out a pathetic provocation.
Setting aside how obvious the bluff was.
It naturally didn’t work.
“What a lame provocation! I know I’m ugly, too!”
...Ah. I see.
Damn it. Its mental fortitude is disgustingly strong, too.
“...Well, whatever. If you won’t come to me, I’ll come to you... heh heh heh.”
“………….”
...It’s coming.
It starts walking toward me at a slow pace.
Thud.
Thud.
With every step it takes, the illusion that a giant is pounding the ground washes over me like a tide.
The pressure keeps growing heavier.
Then, when it finally closes to about twenty steps away.
Its figure vanishes.
No.
I saw it.
I let the mouth on its hand, charging in at terrifying speed, slide past with both hands—
Ssssssssssssssh!
-If I take that, I die.
Intuitively sensing it, I use Instant Acceleration to quickly get out of the way.
This time I’d properly read the attack, so I managed to evade it... but—
Kukwakakakakakakakakakakwang!!!
Its punch not only pulverizes the ground it hits, but also unleashes a shockwave so powerful it’s visible to the eye.
Everything nearby that had barely managed to keep its shape is swept away.
The shockwave doesn’t spare me, either, even though I’m floating in the air.
Right before I’m blown away, I stretch both arms long and drive them deep into the ground to hold on.
Kwa-gagagagagagagagagaga!!!
“Grrrrrrr...!”
I’d extended my arms and buried them about four meters deep.
Even so, I only barely avoided being blown away.
In the end, I was shoved back about ten meters by the shockwave.
The feeling was like becoming a paper doll with weight attached, and I ground my teeth.
“Kikikik. Not bad! Dodging my ‘Super Spinning Screw Bite Punch’ instead of blocking it was an excellent choice!”
“...Terrible name.”
Putting aside the childish move name.
What kind of absurd punch has that much destructive power?
I quickly glance around and realize once again just how powerful that shockwave was.
A radius of thirty meters had been flattened completely.
And that was only from the shockwave aftereffect.
“Kukukukuk...”
“………………….”
So this is it.
Dragon-level.
Unlike its outwardly lighthearted personality, its raw power was... the real deal.
“Then die now! ‘Super Spinning Screw Punch’!”
“…………….”
I make a cold judgment.
Being paralyzed by fear and unable to do anything is already more than enough by now.
My odds? None.
No. Saying none might be too absolute, too pessimistic.
To soften it, I’d say almost none.
What’s certain is that my chances are lower than at any point in the fights I’ve had so far.
How much can the power of a top-tier Demon even do against a Dragon-level? Even that is uncertain.
But.
When has it ever been different?
That crocodile monster I first hunted, the bear freak, the subterranean general, the Sea King.
Every single one of those fights had low odds.
The gap is just a little bigger this time.
Ssssssssssssssh!!!
Repeating it to myself.
I inhale.
And take one step back to prepare my response.
I open my eyes wide and stare directly at its movement.
Accelerating my thoughts to the limit.
I observe every detail of the mouth on its hand, the contraction of its arm muscles, the movement of its shoulder joints.
With a clack, the connected bones shift slightly away from the arm and begin to spin violently.
Its shoulder joint protrudes slightly and loosens, creating a punch that is both natural and devastatingly powerful.
So that’s why I had the feeling I couldn’t just let it flow away with Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist.
But.
I’ve more or less got it.
Using Body Transformation, I imitate the structure of its wrist, separating it slightly and setting it spinning.
I make the shoulder joint protrude a little, creating a path for smooth movement.
Riding the image of a powerful waterfall surging down, then smoothly climbing back up against it.
I curve softly and drive inward.
Toward the defenseless chest, right in the center of the solar plexus.
Exactly in that direction.
[Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist]
Adaptation.
-‘Super Spinning Screw Punch’
I throw it.
Tookwaaaaaaaaaaang!!!
“Kh...?!“
It landed cleanly.
The shockwave erupts, widening the distance between us again to more than six meters.
...However.
“...I got pushed back instead?”
I was definitely the one who drove my fist in.
And yet... damn it.
More than half of that six-meter gap was my own movement.
Even though I struck its chest cleanly without taking any damage.
I was the one who got shoved back more than three meters.
“Kheh... you’ve got some strange little tricks. It’s been a while since someone landed a hit on me like that.”
...My fist is numb.
Part of the bones in my fingers have been slightly crushed.
Meanwhile, it.
Only a little smoke rises from the chest that took the direct hit.
Its defense and durability are beyond the Sea King, and even beyond the subterranean general, who was far tougher than that.
“………….”
Even if I expected it, this is a bit much.
That was supposed to be my trump card.
It’s an absurd situation where the opponent is so hard that the user ends up taking damage instead.
Before I can even gather my face twisted by unfairness, the next attack is already coming.
“Double Bite!”
The movement is simpler than before.
The mouths on both arms, instead of hands, charge at me with their sharp teeth bared.
I immediately shake off the thought that it might be hiding something.
I was certain.
This thing had taken my counterattack and become even more relaxed.
Its attitude said that this much wouldn’t even make it bleed.
...It’s underestimating me.
[Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist]
-Water Flowing Formation.
I bring my crossed hands beneath the jaws of the two mouths lunging to tear out my throat.
Softly.
Instead of deflecting them sideways, I push them upward.
Turning their direction in a curve.
Forcing them off course.
Kwa-kwaaaang!
“Kuh!”
Hit in the face by my own attack, it staggers and takes several steps back.
Without missing the opening, I lower my body and charge.
[Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist]
-Instant Body Step.
I shorten my stride.
My legs move faster.
In an instant, I’m right in front of it.
Without hesitation, I fire a quick uppercut at its chin and, aiming for the now-exposed abdomen,
I sharpen my fingers.
[Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist]
-Fang Piercing Fingers.
-Fifteen-hit combo.
In less than two seconds, I unleash a barrage of fast, precise thrusts across its entire body.
In that brief span, I search for the most effective vital points through accumulated experience and instinct.
Two blows below the ends of the collarbones.
Two more on the opposite side at the same time.
Three below the hollow just under the outer ankle bone.
One at the center of the horizontal crease where the arm bends.
One on the opposite side.
Two at the area beneath the arm, at the end of that horizontal crease.
Two to the solar plexus.
And finally, one to the face, for personal satisfaction.
“Kuh...! What is this... why won’t my bo... body move...!”
I drive two straight punches into the abdomen of the monster that can’t move, as if paralyzed.
Adding one more blow to the solar plexus, something cracks from my hand with a sharp snap, and familiar pain shoots through my nerves.
Both hands are broken and ragged.
Using the vastly improved regeneration I now have compared to before, I recover quickly.
During that time, I lift my still-intact leg and repeatedly smash my knee into its chin.
As it seems to be shaking off the paralysis, it swings one arm at me.
But.
Too slow.
I immediately step onto that arm and spring upward.
While spinning in the air and falling, I drive a spinning kick into the back of its head, loading it with centrifugal force and my own weight.
Tookwaaaaaaaaaaang!!!
I pull back the leg that had been bent by that one strike.
I don’t miss the fleeting moment when it reels from the blow to the back of the head.
With both hands already regenerated, I clench my fists and hammer its back again and again.
Tudududududududududa!!!
It doesn’t sink in at all.
Instead, my fists are the ones that keep breaking apart.
But I don’t stop the barrage for even a second longer than I have to.
Until the skin tears.
Until the muscles are crushed.
Until the bones are exposed and shattered to pieces.
About three seconds later, its tail twitches, and the mouth at the end opens wide and charges at me.
At the same time, the spikes on its shoulders close in.
I had already predicted it.
I wait, then step on its head and leap away to evade.
And then.
In midair, I load the strike I prepared from the very beginning.
Every time I land a blow on it, I take a blow in return.
But that means.
I’ve absorbed every bit of the impact that came back from all the hits I’ve landed so far.
I concentrate all of that nearly maxed-out absorbed shock into one hand.
Using hardening, I make it even tougher.
Using Body Transformation, I gather all the muscles in my body here.
Immediately after.
I fall.
Making my shoulder partially dislocate for greater flexibility.
Rotating my wrist.
I drive my strongest blow into its face.
[Flowing Snake Bite Killing Fist]
Adaptation.
-‘Super Spinning Screw Punch’
Tookwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!!!!
“Grrrrrrr...!?”
An overwhelming shockwave erupts with the roar and flash.
Thrown back by the recoil, I crash into a piece of debris.
Every bone in my body is wrecked, but that doesn’t really matter.
Separate from the pain, I have to judge the situation coldly.
My total stats are now sixteen times what they were before.
This strike poured in almost everything, minus the bare minimum, from those stats.
The surroundings tremble, and a storm-like wind sweeps through and disappears for a moment.
Only then does the dust cloud, shaped like a small mushroom cloud, begin to clear.
At the point of impact, a huge crater has formed.
And.
“...Kukuk...”
It’s standing.
Its face is slightly twisted, but it’s smiling as if nothing happened.
“Yeah... is that all you’ve got?”
Ptui! It spits something out.
A sharp tooth, glistening wet with blood.
“You only knocked out one tooth.”
“………….”
Receiving the Daily Quest reward, I regenerate my entire body again.
Right. Just one tooth.
That means.
As expected.
“...It’s not invincible.”
Whether the effect is tiny or not doesn’t matter.
I can hurt it with my attacks... hurt a Dragon-level.
That fact is enough.
Get up.
With my eyes blazing, I glare at it.
And collide with it once more.
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