Chapter 143
Seong-jun Lee was a being who had crossed not just space, but time and space when returning to Earth from the Cheon Continent.
It was impossible that he couldn't manage to simply split space.
Of course, without the power he had when he was hailed as a Demon God, he couldn't display the same strength as back then.
However, he could certainly create enough of a gap to shatter a small space, a Life Vessel.
In other words, he had enough power to annihilate Rethar, who called himself immortal.
As Seong-jun Lee finished his thoughts, the look in his eyes changed.
'I'll end this... decisively in one go.'
If Rethar realized his weakness had been noticed, he might take precautions or choose to flee.
He didn't want to create any unnecessary variables.
Just then, Rethar, his eyes flashing blue, gripped his sword tightly and charged at Seong-jun Lee.
"Meaningless struggle will only increase your pain. Just quietly accept death."
Rethar closed the distance quickly, slicing through the air as he muttered in a low voice.
Having anticipated this, it wasn't too difficult to dodge.
But Seong-jun Lee didn't avoid it.
Rather, he charged towards Rethar, who was swinging his sword.
However, Rethar didn't easily allow him to approach either.
Swoosh!
"You insist on prolonging your time of suffering!"
The demonic energy surging from Rethar's entire body clawed at Seong-jun Lee's flesh as if beating him.
'This does hurt a bit.'
The remnants of the demonic energy that had torn his skin caused his flesh to necrotize.
The cursed ability contained in the demonic energy, which he had thought was simply immense power, was certainly beyond Seong-jun Lee's expectations, and the price he had to pay for it was terrible.
A pain like his skin melting and muscles burning swept through his entire body.
But Seong-jun Lee's movements didn't stop; he just silently pressed on towards his goal.
For Seong-jun Lee, who had lived a life of Asura filled with only struggle and fighting, the sensation of pain was all too familiar.
There was no way such pain could stop him.
"...!"
It was at that moment when Seong-jun Lee bit his lower lip hard and increased his speed even more.
Thud-
Finally, as Seong-jun Lee's palm touched Rethar's body, the Asura Explosion manifested.
Boom!
Although Rethar's body was turning to ash and scattering due to the fierce explosions caused by the Asura, his face was still full of composure.
"...How foolish."
He had already finished analyzing the human called Seong-jun Lee to some extent through their previous exchanges.
Therefore, he knew that Seong-jun Lee could have easily avoided the attack he had just launched.
Yet despite this, Seong-jun Lee didn't dodge the attack.
It meant he had another plan in mind.
Indeed, not just at the final moment of the attack, but even now, Seong-jun Lee's eyes were blazing more intensely than ever before.
"Even after experiencing it directly, you can't accept reality. I, Rethar, am the Emperor who has transcended death! You can't kill me with such attacks!"
Rethar shouted, using his upper body that hadn't yet disappeared to violently swing Nark, which he held in his grasp.
Slash!
The blade pierced through the protective energy and lodged in Seong-jun Lee's left shoulder.
Naturally, the demonic energy swirling in Rethar's sword, Nark, instantly burrowed into his body, causing his skin to necrotize.
He could no longer use one arm, but it wasn't a problem.
This was going to be the final attack anyway.
Seong-jun Lee, his eyes emitting an alluring red light, curved like a crescent moon, spread his remaining right hand wide open.
In less than three seconds, as much inner energy as was contained in the Asura Explosion he had just fired at Rethar gathered.
But it wasn't enough yet.
To erase even the slightest variable, he needed even more overwhelming power.
Although his inner energy was running low due to the continuous battle, fortunately, Seong-jun Lee still had an ace up his sleeve.
Thump! Thump!
His heart beat violently, moving the blood flowing through his veins to his dantian.
Feeling the lacking blood energy rapidly rising, Seong-jun Lee immediately concentrated that power in his outstretched hand.
Woong-!
The massive amount of blood energy concentrated in the air emitted a resonating sound and took the form of a red sword.
Having completed the ferocious and threatening sword imbued with the power of Asura, Seong-jun Lee gazed beyond Rethar's body, into the interior of the black rift.
"Wh-what are you trying to do, human!"
Seeing Rethar's pupils shaking as if in an earthquake, Seong-jun Lee became even more certain.
"As I thought... it's in there."
Rethar, unable to hide his bewilderment, forcibly grasped his dissipating body and put strength into Nark, which he was gripping, trying to slice Seong-jun Lee's body.
But there was no way Seong-jun Lee would easily allow such an attack from Rethar.
'Star's Protection!'
Anticipating Rethar's final struggle, Seong-jun Lee quickly created a curtain in front of the blade and covered it with protective energy to defend.
Of course, since it was an attack imbued with powerful demonic energy, he couldn't completely defend against it.
Crack!
The invisible curtain trying to block the blade shattered, and the blade dug into his muscle.
Originally intended to split his body along with his heart, it couldn't penetrate any further due to the Star's Protection.
Meanwhile, Rethar's hand, which had been forcibly resisting the explosion, turned to ash and disappeared.
His final struggle had come to nothing.
At last, Seong-jun Lee, with a chilling smile on his lips, immediately swung the sword in his right hand.
'Myriad Blood Demon Sea 4th Form, Asura Soul-Severing Sword, Angle of the Waning Moon, Piercing the Heavens.'
Bang!
With a short thunderous sound, a red line shot out, slicing through the fabric of the massive black rift covering the sky.
Crack!
With a thunderous sound that shook the world, the gap in the black rift holding pitch-black darkness widened, revealing the world inside.
"Im-impossible...!"
Rethar couldn't close his gaping mouth.
Beyond the black rift was a territory solely for the Emperor of the Dead, Rethar.
It was a world located in a different dimension, another plane, not existing in the current Earth.
It meant that although visible to the eyes, it didn't actually exist here.
Therefore, originally, unless one could split dimensions, it wouldn't have been affected by any attack.
Yet Seong-jun Lee, with a single strike, had split the fabric between dimensions and forcibly opened a door.
He had accomplished something that even Rethar, hailed as the Emperor of the Dead, couldn't do.
'Just what is this human's true identity?!'
Endless questions raced through Rethar's mind as he wore an expression of shock.
But sadly, Rethar didn't have time to find answers.
The territory of the dead existing beyond the rift was where the Life Vessel, the foundation of a lich, was enshrined.
It must never allow external intrusion.
It meant he had to close the gap in the rift as quickly as possible.
"Close, I said close...!"
Rethar, now with only his head remaining after being engulfed by the explosion, tried to close the rift with an urgent voice, but it didn't go as he wished.
Since the core, which could be called the fabric, had been cut from the start, it couldn't easily recover, but Rethar kept shouting the same words in a desperate tone.
"Please, I said close!"
It was when Rethar's cries, filled with desperation, were echoing throughout the area.
"...Found it."
Seong-jun Lee, uttering these cold words, swung his sword once more.
'Myriad Blood Demon Sea 4th Form, Asura Soul-Severing Sword, Angle of the Pale Moon, Soul-Stealing Fang.'
The red energy shot from the blade became a bolt of lightning.
Of course, if it were simply launching an attack, he couldn't be certain that it could shatter Rethar's Life Vessel emanating its presence beyond the rift.
However, Soul-Stealing Fang was, as its name suggests, an attack that pierced through the soul of the target.
Even without seeing it directly with his eyes, he could designate the target just by perceiving its existence.
It meant it was a martial art that could shatter Rethar's Life Vessel existing beyond the rift.
Swoosh!
A faint exclamation escaped Rethar's lips as he felt the presence of Soul-Stealing Fang cutting through the land beyond the rift, the territory of the dead.
"Ah...!"
He instinctively sensed the current situation.
That death had come.
Was it because he had truly faced the pure reality without any lies?
In his vision, he began to see the figure of Seong-jun Lee properly.
The being before him, Seong-jun Lee, was not merely a human.
He was the Demon King himself, the one who rules and reigns, possessing absolute power.
'From the beginning, I shouldn't have invaded the territory of humanity, no, the Demon King.'
It meant he had made a foolish decision from the very start of the expedition, but it was too late to turn back now.
However, there was no lingering attachment or regret.
'As long as the Demon King exists... this place could never become a world of the dead.'
All the beings who had crossed over to Earth carrying their own wishes, which could be called their long-cherished desires, would eventually kneel before Seong-jun Lee, the absolute Demon King.
'...They will all live spending futile time, harboring empty dreams.'
Not realizing that what they would ultimately face was only destruction.
It was at that moment when a smile curved on Rethar's lips, feeling elation at the sight of those who would soon perish in the great despair that was Seong-jun Lee.
Crack!
The sharp blade shot by Soul-Stealing Fang pierced through Rethar's Life Vessel, which could be called his source, beyond the rift.
Ding!
[You have defeated the SSS+ rank named boss monster, Master Lich, Rethar.]
[Experience points increase!]
[Due to the effect of the title 'Conqueror', the experience gained increases by 75 percent.]
[Congratulations! As you have met the required experience, your level has risen to 168.]
[For single-handedly defeating Rethar, the Master Lich who achieved transcendence, you acquire the 'Achievement: End of Death'.]
[As conditions are met, the hidden interface 'Achievements' is unlocked!]
With a flood of notifications, the black rift floating in the air dispersed into black smoke, and brilliant light shone upon the ground.
The death that had tried to engulf the world was retreating.
It meant victory had been grasped in a war thought to be unwinnable.
It was the moment when Seong-jun Lee had created yet another piece of history.