Chapter 243

Woong-!! Woong-!!

The sky above the Pacific Ocean, which was clear a few moments ago, was now thundering with dark clouds above. Not long after, rain started pouring down. Dang Baek-soo got out of the building and stepped on the top of the transmission tower, the tallest tower in the Hell Gate Lab. There, he was faced by the unidentified monster who escaped from the Hell Gate.

“Hey, hey. Seeing it up close, that thing is actually no joke.” Dang Baek-soo mumbled. The creature stayed expressionless, as if it had no emotion, and didn’t say anything. 

However, the truth is, the creature was trying to communicate and was expressing its emotions, but Dang Baek-soo didn’t understand it since it was something which couldn’t be comprehended by humans.

‘It even stood in the air!’

If it’s only walking on the air, Dang Baek-soo could also do it. However, he did it by stepping on the air. That monster was literally standing on his feet in the air, which was known to Murim as the Void Walking Technique.

When his body tensed even more, Cheong, who silently appeared next to his side, spoke to him.

“What a terrifying creature.”

“You surprised me! What are you? How are you in the sky?” Dang Baek-soo asked as he saw Cheong flying in the sky just like the monster.

“All superhumans with telekinesis power can do this.”

“Are you talking about Void Walking?”

“That’s right.”

“Huh…Superpowers are really mysterious. You can freely use the things that are said to be only used by those who have reached the pinnacle.”

From Cheong’s point of view, the existence of martial artists who were capable of reaching the realm of superpowers through training alone was more mysterious, but as the situation didn’t permit them to chatter any longer, she didn’t voice her feelings.

Woosh-!!

The waves grew stronger, the raindrops fell heavier, and thunder began to roar louder in the sky. It was as if nature itself was responding to that monster.

“By the way, why did it stop attacking?” 

When the creature first appeared, it acted as if it was going to destroy everything just like it destroyed the Hell Gate Lab.

“Anyway, it is certain that it is hostile to humanity. We have to stop it.”

As Dang Baek-soo snapped his fingers, sharp daggers and flower petals painted in black jumped out from somewhere and landed in between his fingers. All of those were coated with a terrible poison called Thousand Blood Poison (千血毒).

At the same time, Cheong took out an ether dispenser, which looked like a baton, from her waist and stirred the air as if conducting an orchestra. Then, dozens of pillars of water rose from the sea and reached the clouds above.

Despite seeing the magnificent sight, Dang Baek-soo shouted without blinking an eye.

“I will hit first!”

Dang Baek-soo immediately jumped and tried to pierce the monster’s neck with a dagger. But before he could even reach him, a streak of lightning suddenly fell from the sky and shot towards Dang Baek-soo.

“Keuk!”

Cheong quickly pushed Baek-soo’s body away with her telekinesis.

‘Thunderbolt…? How could such a worst scenario coincidence happen all of a sudden!’ While thinking like that, she compressed a huge amount of water steam into one and shot it at the monster’s neck. The attack she just unleashed could even cut diamonds as easy as cutting a piece of paper, so she was certain that it would inflict some damage to the creature.

Puuussshhhh-!!

“!!!”

However, the streams of water she shot out ‘evaporated’ in the air.

“What the hell? Why?” 

Even though she didn’t understand why it was happening, it didn’t stop her from attacking once again. Swinging her baton as hard as she could, she commanded the gravity around the monster’s body collapse. Normally, whatever she attacks with this attack will burst out because of the pressure. However, the monster didn’t even move, and Cheong was the one who suffered; blood flowed from her nose.

‘It’s rock hard…’ If she were to compare the creature’s endurance with her ability’s strength, it would be like trying to break a rock using an egg. Until now, she had never met someone or something which was completely unaffected by her power, so she was quite perplexed.

When the creature raised its hand and was about to do something, Dang Baek-soo passed by Cheong’s side like an arrow.

Nettle!

Dozens of petals shot out from his hand! Seeing it, Cheong was stunned. However, at the same time, she was also doubtful about what those petals could do to the monster when even her own telekinesis couldn’t scratch the creature,

“It’s usel…!” Chung, who was about to scream those words to Dang Baek-soo, immediately bit her mouth. It was because the petals thrown by Dang Baek-soo easily exceed the speed of human perception… No, it’s because they flew as if they had penetrated the space before digging into the creature’s body.

She snapped from her amazement and waved her baton high in the sky.

Rumble-!! Rumble-!!

WOOOOOOSH-!!

The debris of the collapsed wall, paper, desks, sharp knives, mugs, wine glasses—everything around her flew into the air and began to swirl.

“Ugh!!” Then, she put her hand down. All the objects were shot at the monster as if they were being sucked into a black hole. However, it was to no avail. As if there was an intangible veil, all the items were destroyed as soon as they touched the monster’s body.

However, as long as his throwing knives hit their target, it was enough for Dang Baek-soo. He snapped his fingers and shouted.

“Corrode!”

Then, something inside the monster’s body gurgled, and its skin was dyed blue. The moment something was infected, Baek-soo’s Thousand Blood Poison literally turned all blood into a bomb.

However, Dang Baek-soo clenched his teeth with a dissatisfied expression. Originally, with the amount he just injected to the creature, the explosion it produced would be powerful enough to blow away the entire area.

‘Why didn’t the poison work properly?’ The question could not be resolved immediately. With a dagger dipped in poison in his mouth, Dang Baek-soo brought his hands together and raised his qi.

“Whirlwind of death… Seven Strike(七擊) Explode(爆)!”

When he slammed his palm into the air, seven purple daggers were created and rotated violently. Once Dang Baek-soo moved his arms, the daggers, which were swimming in the air, followed his gestures and flew toward the monster one by one.

Then, for the first time, the monster twisted its body to avoid the attack. Cheong struggled to hold back her amazement, and forced herself to press the monster’s body with her telekinesis, preventing it from moving.

Fwoosh-!!

Four of the purple daggers missed and were destroyed, but three hit the creature’s body.

“Break (破)!”

When Baek-soo snapped his finger again, the parts hit by the dagger exploded, leaving a scar the size of a palm. Eventually, the inside of the creature’s body was revealed.

Flash!

Eyeballs blinked at the area where the body was cut. In another part, dozens of tongues moved like swarms of worms, and in another part, a mouth opened wide and sharp teeth protruded as if it was gnawing the air before disappearing once again.

“Crazy….”

“Ugh…!”

At that horrific sight, Cheong covered her mouth with her palm to suppress the acidic taste which rushed through her mouth, releasing the pressure on the creature. And the moment the pressure of her telekinesis disappeared, the monster raised his hands high into the sky.

Boom-!! Boom-!!

Flash!

The sky filled with dark clouds brightened. Dozens or even hundreds of thunder started to flash!

‘Oops!’

Cheong, who later realized her mistake, tried to squeeze the creature again with her telekinesis, but the monster endured the pressure while shaking its arm.

‘Dammit!!!’

The sensation she was feeling on her hand now was like trying to move Mount Tai with her bare hands. On top of it, with every attack she launched, she felt like her mental strength kept decreasing.

She looked up at the sky, while blood and sweat dripped from her nose.

Why didn’t that monster attack right away? What is the monster’s attack method? Why isn’t the monster doing a proper counterattack?

Why, at the same time as the appearance of the monster, there was a dark cloud?

‘Did its powers come from nature itself?’

It was an unbelievable notion. It was because even where there’s a superpower which could control water or move the wind, there’s no superpower that deals with nature itself.

But, the creature was able to create clouds and calls for thunder.

‘Not good. Really, not good!’ While she was trying to bind the creature with her telekinesis, she also moved many objects and threw them at the creature, but not even one managed to hit it. It was because the monster is also finely controlling the wind, changing the trajectory of everything she throws.

“I can’t hit it…!”

All of her attacks were neutralized. Air manipulation, water flow manipulation, and space control through telekinesis. Until now, there had not been any enemy which could stop all three of her attacks at the same time. 

‘Why am I so weak…’

Boom-!!

Cheong bit her lip and looked up at the sky. The sky was completely white, and now the whole world was filled with thunder and lightning.

‘That’s the true power of a monster…’ Cheong realized that in the first place, the word ‘battle’ couldn’t be used for this situation. The monster was merely playing with them.

Death.

When the creature came closer towards Cheong, Dang Baek-soo moved.

“Sichuan Sect (四川唐門), Unique Skill (絕技).”

Whole Sky Flower Rain (滿天花雨).

A feast of flowers unfolded in front of Cheong’s eyes.

‘Ah?’

Purple petals fluttered all over the place. Some petals went up, some went down, some went forward, some went backwards. Hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of petals were moving in different directions as if they had their own minds.

However, Cheong knew that every petal moved because of telekinetic force. All of those flower petals were being controlled by a single person.

“Nonsense…!” That’s telekinesis. It’s definitely telekinesis. Cheong thought that the human mind would never be able to move tens of thousands of objects in tens of thousands of directions.

‘How could that…’ She had the title of Earth’s Greatest Telekinesis hunter, something she thought would never change even after wizards and murim warriors appeared.

However, it seems like she was wrong.

Even though there’s someone stronger than her right in front of her, why couldn’t she recognize it?

Tens of thousands of petals flew through the air and slowly gnawed at the monster. The monster’s skin, which wasn’t scratched by Cheong’s attack, began to be torn by the attack of Dang Baek-soo.

“If I join the attack…!”

But, when Cheong was about to swing her baton, Dang Baek-soo landed on the transmission tower. At the same time, The storm of petals had started fading.

“Hey.”

“I know! I will be joining you soon!”

“No, just run away.”

“Sorry?”

“Look, he’s getting used to the poison. He will soon become completely immune to my poison.”

On top of it, a lot of Dang Baek-soo’s attacks failed to hit the creature. However, it wasn’t because the creature was capable of avoiding hundreds of attacks at the same time. It was just… the wind around the area seemed to move by itself.

“You need to get out of here alive. And let the world know about that creature. The tower has been completely destroyed. That means, communications are no longer available.”

“No, if I stay until the end and fight, we can definitely win—”

“Calm down, you stupid woman.”

Cheong looked blankly at Dang Baek-soo’s back. He couldn’t even turn his head towards her in order to control Whole Sky Flower Rain.

“That creature… is a disaster. However, it is still in its learning phase.”

“Learning….”

“It had a lot of energy, but it didn’t know how to use it.” That energy was neither air, mana, ether, magnetic force, gravity, nor anything else. It was something Dang Baek-soo and Cheong did not know.

“Do you remember the first time I attacked it?”

At that time, the ‘energy’ moved on its own and sent a strike of lightning towards him. Dang Baek-soo was certain that was by no means done by the monster’s will. And the same also happened when Cheong attacked with a stream of water, and when Dang Baek Soo attacked with poison.

That monster didn’t dodge a single attack. It’s just that the huge energy moved and offset it.

“That energy… It’s like it has its own will. It manipulates the very providence of nature… We can never win on our own.”

Cheong, who had not thought about it until then, made a crestfallen expression. When he looked at Dang Baek-soo’s action in the lab, she simply thought he was just a fool who had no idea what he was doing, but it turned out that he was superior to her in every way.

“The only person who can get out of this place is you. Hurry up and go! I will reach my limit soon!”

Cheong looked at the Dang Baek-soo once, the creature once, and the broken tower once. Living as a hunter, sometimes there comes a time when you have to make a choice.

Will she abandon her comrades and retreat for greater good?

Or

Will you get caught up in your feelings and fight together with your comrades until the end?

Until now, Cheong had always chosen the latter. And in the end, she still survived because she had the ability to do that. But not right now. She was completely aware that her telekinesis was weak in front of the creature. It couldn’t bind that bastard for even a second.

So, Cheong had no choice but to bow her head.

“I’m sorry.”

Because she couldn’t help at all and had to run away.

But Dang Baek-soo just smiled brightly.

“Heh heh! I heard an apology from such an arrogant woman like you! Today is really a very good day!”

With those words, Dang Baek-soo rushed to the monster with both hands full of petals, and Cheong, who gave a last glance to his reliable back, quickly escaped from the radius of the dark clouds.

Then, after she had run away for a while, a loud explosion shook the sea upside down.

BOOOOOM-!!

“Ugh!”

Cheong, who was flying in the air, turned her head unknowingly to check the place. Thousands of thunderbolts were falling all at once, resulting as if a huge pillar of light had been erected.

“Ah…” 

At that sight, she was certain of one thing. The Hell Gate Labs no longer exist. Everything in that area would have been destroyed. With gloomy feelings buried in her chest, Cheong turned her head again.

She now had to make sure that Dang Baek-soo’s dying wish comes true; to make the world know about that monster as soon as possible.