Chapter 35 – The Beast's Domain: Part 2
The ground cracked beneath their feet.
Yoo Sang-rok, the AA-rank poison awakened known as the Beast of Jirisan, lunged forward, his muscles bulging unnaturally, his veins glowing green like acid. Every step he took corroded the earth beneath him, and his breath alone released a deadly mist into the air.
Ji-ho didn't flinch.
The moment Sang-rok's fist came hurling toward him, it was met with the sharp, humming edge of Destructive Ray Blade, now laced with his evolved Poisonous Aura. The clash shattered the ground, sending a wave of toxic debris in all directions.
Ye-jun leaped backward, barely escaping the radius. His eyes widened. "He's strong. Like a devil pretending to be human."
Ji-ho felt it too. Sang-rok was more than just an awakened. He was a monster molded by the system, trained, corrupted, and empowered by the very society that crushed innocent lives.
"You're too late, kid," Sang-rok sneered, body steaming with venomous energy. "This world belongs to those who kill without hesitation. You think you're special because you have a pendant?"
He didn't wait for an answer. Sang-rok roared, slamming both fists into the earth. From the shattered soil, serpent-like vines of poison erupted, twisting toward Ji-ho with explosive speed. The mist grew thicker, toxic enough to melt stone.
Ji-ho raised a single hand.
His Destructive Aura Shield expanded outward, pulsing with crimson light. The poison vines struck it—only to disintegrate on contact. Ji-ho's control over his aura had reached the point where his mere presence corroded enemy powers.
With a thought, his ray shifted again—now into a scythe, long, curved, and radiating despair.
"I don't need this power to protect the world," Ji-ho said, stepping forward through the mist. "I need it to destroy the rotten roots of this society."
He swung the scythe once.
It cleaved through the mist, parted Sang-rok's poisoned shield, and cut off the beast's left arm in a single motion.
Sang-rok screamed, the forest echoing with his rage. His blood hit the ground and hissed like acid.
"You think you've won?" he bellowed, sprouting four monstrous arms from his back, his mutation accelerating. "I'll rip you apart and feed your brother your bones!"
But Ji-ho's gaze was calm.
The pendant around his neck pulsed again, and his newly evolved Eye of Evil activated. Dozens of glowing red lines appeared over Sang-rok's body—each a path to a fatal strike.
"I can see all your deaths," Ji-ho muttered.
And he moved.
Faster than sound. Faster than thought.
Each slash, each step, targeted one of the red paths. Veins burst. Joints shattered. Muscles tore. Sang-rok's regeneration couldn't keep up.
With a final swing, Ji-ho carved his ray-scythe through the monster's heart.
Sang-rok's body spasmed—then exploded in a storm of black blood and toxic ash.
Silence followed.
Only the flickering hum of Ji-ho's ray remained. The fortress behind them was in flames. The remaining guards fled in terror.
Ye-jun stepped beside his brother, shaking. "He… was one of the worst."
Ji-ho's face was blank, eyes still glowing. "He was just another tool. Six more and the hand that holds them."
They both turned toward the burning lab.
The cursed experiments within. The corpses of the innocent.
Ji-ho whispered, more to himself than anyone else:
> "This society raises devils, calls them heroes, and buries the victims."
The hunt wasn't over.
It had only just begun.
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