NOVEL FROG Chapter 161
“…This is nonsense.”
The clearly flustered woman muttered. It was perhaps the only glimpse of humanity she had shown.
“How could you alone…”
But she abruptly closed her mouth, staring at Lee Hyun with her characteristic inscrutable gaze, as if nothing had happened.
“…That’s unfortunate. Wasn’t the eternal happiness you dreamt of supposed to be there? Why did you choose such a harsh path for yourself? This is completely irrational…”
“Shut up.”
Lee Hyun interrupted the woman, who seemed ready to deliver a long-winded speech, as if he had no intention of exchanging words.
“How dare you toy with my family…”
Lee Hyun did not hide the rising hostility. The particles in the atmosphere around him thrashed violently, enough for Jin Yeseo to feel the prickling sensation.
“Hmm…”
Seeing Lee Hyun’s extreme reaction, the woman displayed a strange, curious smile once more.
Lee Hyun examined the woman’s abdomen. The attack had been released through six paths of his predictive magic. He could clearly sense his foot stepping into her insides.
However, now, her clothes were torn, exposing her bellybutton, yet there wasn’t even a scratch on her soft skin.
One answer remained. The attack had clearly hit, but she had recovered in an instant.
She had regenerated a severed arm in the blink of an eye, just like she had moved unharmed despite being stabbed in the heart moments ago.
An opponent far too threatening to capture. Setting aside personal rage, that woman was an incredibly dangerous being.
Her movement surpassed human limits; she survived having limbs severed or her heart pierced, her abilities flipped the mental state of a person upside down, and she commanded grotesque monsters as if they were her arms and legs.
It was impossible, even for a massive monster that belched fire or the highest-ranking demon of the Baekdu bloodline, or even the most powerful, ancient warlock.
There was no way to counter it, as if she declared herself a being completely unrelated to death with that confident smile.
“…”
He continuously churned thoughts about how to deal with an enemy that kept coming back to life, even after limbs had been sliced off, innards ruptured, or even the heart pierced through.
‘…No.’
But Lee Hyun shook his head. There was still one place left to test.
That tiny head bearing a face he didn’t even want to look at.
Since there were no other sharp options anyway. Escaping this underground space with Jin Yeseo while leaving her behind was impossible from the start.
‘It’s worth a try…’
Thus, as he thought, Lee Hyun immediately wrote additional magic formulas of his predictive magic and engraved them onto his body. The form was the maximum strength he could exert, six paths.
Soon, all of his bodily pathways opened at maximum capacity, and an enormous amount of particles surged in like a tidal wave. Vitality spread to the tips of his limbs, and the world he observed with enhanced eyesight flowed much slower.
“…Ugh.”
And along with that, a terrible pain coursed through him.
Sajaehyeok had absolutely forbidden the release of seven paths due to the risk to his life, but in such a situation, there was no other choice.
What stood before him was not an opponent he could defeat by conserving his strength.
-BOOM!
The moment that power seeped into his body. Lee Hyun pushed off the ground and closed the distance to the woman in an instant.
-SWISH!
He swung the blade horizontally at a speed invisible to the eye. The blade skimmed past her neck by a hair’s breadth. A delayed sound followed, emitting a fierce crackling.
-CRASH! BOOM!
Lee Hyun continued to press the woman, slicing off both her arms, yet the twitching soft tissue reformed itself again. As he ripped off one of her legs, she leapt over the remnants as if performing acrobatics.
Though that movement was remarkable, it was certainly easier to handle than before.
If this momentum continued, he could kill her before the duration of his predictive magic ended.
Yet, her calm expression still held him back.
“Hmm…”
Despite losing her arms, she observed the movements of the blade. Even as her leg was severed, she keenly scanned the trembling of her muscles, as if trying to grasp every little detail. This was far from the look of a cornered prey.
“By the way… this is definitely…”
-FAWOOSH!
This time, two arms and one leg scattered through the air simultaneously. Yet at that moment, the woman merely murmured with a meaningful expression.
And finally, just as Lee Hyun surged forward to pierce her head.
That grotesque smile that tore her face to her ears reemerged.
“…Impressive.”
-BOOM!
The woman’s body twisted at an impossible angle for human anatomy. A tremendous strike hit Lee Hyun’s chest at blinding speed.
If he hadn’t erected a particle barrier, his heart would have been crushed by now.
“NO!!”
In an instant, the tables turned. Jin Yeseo, seeing this, became pale, shouting out. She struggled to lift her trembling arms, but her obstinate body wouldn’t move.
Meanwhile, the woman, who had regrown her limbs, charged toward Lee Hyun, covering the distance. Lee Hyun narrowly sliced her hand just before it made contact. He then kicked her away, creating some space.
-BOOM!
Through the thick cloud of dust, he sank his blade into the ground to brace himself, gasping for breath. Soon, with a violent cough, he spat out a large mouthful of blood onto the ground.
“Hah… Hah…! Ugh, cough! Cough…”
“You’re looking at me like, ‘How on earth…’ right?”
The woman’s calm voice flew into his ears, almost mocking him.
“Of course. It’s not like a lowly creature can handle particles.”
-SWISH…
The woman ambled forward. The skin that had been exposed to Lee Hyun’s kick, revealing her innards and bones, wriggled as it covered the vacant spot again. Soon, it was completely restored without a trace of the blow.
“More than that, I have a question for you.”
The woman abruptly stopped, casting an air of arrogance in her gaze toward Lee Hyun.
“What’s your relationship with the opponent? You displayed movements that closely resemble his. Though you’ve clearly deteriorated, it’s still quite notable.”
“Haa… Haa… Cough! What kind of nonsense…”
Lee Hyun glared at the woman, murmuring.
“Well… I’ve had my fill.”
Seeing him with no intention to answer, the woman sighed and began to walk forward again.
“We’ll understand once we verify it in person. Peering into memories is a simple task for me, Betelgeuse… Hmm?”
Suddenly she turned her head toward the side.
“Oh, no…”
“Hmm…”
Jin Yeseo was leaning against the wall, staring blankly at Lee Hyun. Her trembling body made her look even more pitiful.
“One female, one male, an inherent affinity leading to reproduction… I see.”
The moment she sensed the moisture, her lips stretched into a wide smile, showing immense satisfaction.
“As if you could even handle yourself, yet you hold onto unnecessary bonds. Well, displaying that despair in front of you could be quite delightful. Sometimes, a bit of bitterness is needed.”
“NO… NO… MOVE, MOVE!!”
The woman ignored Jin Yeseo’s cry and continued her steps. Lee Hyun clung tightly to his fading consciousness, even as his vision blurred.
With the seven paths, he could only run his magic for a few minutes. The recent blow had cut that time even more. Thirty to forty seconds. At most, a minute was all he had left in the world of magic.
“Haa… Haa…”
Predictive magic. The strongest body-enhancing spell of the circulatory system. The immense power that allowed the Heukryeon family to reach their current position.
That magic, wielded by Lee Hyun, was overwhelmingly suppressed by the woman’s even stronger power.
She remained the worst enemy, whose identity he still didn’t know. Even Sajaehyeok had never pushed him this far.
However, oddly enough, Lee Hyun found clues on how to win from the sight of that woman.
“Thanks to you, I had quite a bit of fun. As a reward, I’ll be sure to add you to my ‘collection’ list.”
The body enhancement shown by the woman during the fight. The movement of the particles he sensed within that gap.
That fact was clear. The woman was definitely manipulating particles in the same manner as them. In other words, she was using magic.
And for him, regardless of how powerful the magic was, he had a means to disperse it as if it had never existed.
That was the power of the divine.
“Haa…”
Having completed his thoughts, Lee Hyun raised the blade with trembling arms. He was in the worst physical condition. And the range of his divine power was limited. If the woman noticed the manifestation and increased the distance, his chances of winning would vanish forever.
Fortunately, the woman before him treated him with nearly arrogant complacency throughout.
Lee Hyun thought. Then, he would draw her in. Until the very last moment. Until the instant she couldn’t escape the final attack.
“You can take it as an honor. A privilege granted only to a few among lowly beings… huh?”
-BOOM!
Lee Hyun charged fiercely at the woman, swinging the blade as she began to say something.
“I just mentioned it. You shouldn’t lack that much learning capacity…”
Yet the woman sighed and effortlessly lifted her arm, blocking the attack. The arms that had just been cut off seemed to block his blade as if they were made of steel.
-THWACK!
“Cough…!”
Soon after, the woman retaliated against him. As Lee Hyun flew, he distinctly heard the pop of his shoulder bone breaking.
-BOOM!
The solid stone wall smashed against the back of his head. The confident enemy before him leaped forward to deliver the final blow against Lee Hyun.
Visions of the short future he was about to face flashed through his mind, almost like a prophecy.
In the blink of an eye, she would reach his face. Then, with her wicked hands, she would crush his heart, exploding it entirely. Without a scream, he would perish and be unable to return to those waiting for him.
Yet even in pain, Lee Hyun smiled. At that moment, when the enemy had leaped and was hovering mid-air, borrowing Sajaehyeok’s words: ‘The moment even the gods cannot intervene.’
This was the time he had longed for.
Lee Hyun was consciously aware of the power that had been swirling near his heart all along. And he spread it out to its maximum range in an instant.
The power spread like ripples, and soon every particle in space fell under his control.
In the slow-flowing time, the woman approached, reaching out her claws toward Lee Hyun. However, her suddenly lost composure began to twist her face grotesquely.
First came doubt. Next was certainty, and finally, extreme fear.
The woman’s expression changed dramatically in an instant.
“This is…!”
And just as she opened her mouth to say something while her pupils dilated.
“Die.”
-CRACK!
A chilling whisper. And with the sharp sound of her skull splitting, the blade thrust deep into the center of her forehead.