Chapter 432: The Demon Heart

BOOM!

The white light slammed into Arudok’s abdomen, sending him hurtling backward once more.

Just as he was about to crash into the ground,

“ROAR——!”

He let out a sudden, thunderous shout.

With terrifying momentum, he sliced through the residual energy of the attack and wheeled around, streaking back toward Hulim in the sky—his speed growing faster with every passing second.

Hulim waved her Seven Luminaries.

SWISH! SWISH!

Two beams of white light curved through the air, streaking toward him from left and right.

Arudok twisted his body, dodging one attack with a flick of his shoulders, while his sword blade intercepted the other head-on—sending it ricocheting away.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH......

More white beams arced toward him from every direction, closing in like a net.

“RAAAAGH!!!”

Arudok roared even louder, his eyes blazing with fierce battle-lust as his aura surged to an earth-shattering peak.

He weaved through the dense hail of attacks, dodging and deflecting them one after another.

Yet Hulim’s assaults showed no signs of stopping—more and more beams filled the sky, endless and unrelenting......

By the time Arudok realized he could no longer advance, there was no room left to dodge.

BOOM!

The first attack he failed to block slammed into his body.

He staggered slightly, his jaw tightening as he forced the blood welling up in his throat back down.

But that tiny, almost imperceptible falter was a fatal opening.

BOOM!

A second attack struck him moments later.

Then a third, a fourth, a fifth......

The dense barrage of attacks crashed into him like a flood bursting from a canyon, relentless and overwhelming.

“GAAAAH......”

Arudok endured the onslaught, his wounds worsening at a terrifying pace. His consciousness faded in and out, his eyes rolling back into his head.

After what felt like an eternity, Hulim’s attacks finally ceased.

Arudok hung motionless in mid-air, his body charred black. Dragged down by gravity, he plummeted toward the ground.

THUD——!

A dull crash echoed across the battlefield.

Arudok lay still on the earth......

“......”

Hulim stared at the charred figure below.

After a long pause,

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she spoke suddenly.

“You’re still alive.”

On the ground,

as if responding to her words, Arudok’s right hand twitched. He reached into his chest and pulled out a dagger made of black crystal—inside it, a tiny, glowing heart pulsed rhythmically.

SPLURT!

Arudok drove the crystal dagger into his own chest with all his strength.

THUMP——!

In an instant, a heartbeat echoed across the entire battlefield—loud enough for even Hulim to hear clearly.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP......

The powerful, throbbing beats resounded again and again.

BOOM——!

A towering pillar of white light descended from the sky, engulfing Arudok’s body completely.

The heartbeat paused for two seconds.

Then——

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP......

It began to beat once more.

Hulim fixed her gaze on Arudok, her normally calm eyes sharpening with a hint of seriousness.

“GAAAAAAH......”

A blood-curdling howl erupted from his throat, like the roar of a demon unleashed.

He stumbled to his feet.

CLINK, CLINK.

His greatsword, which had fallen far away, began to tremble violently.

CLANG——!

With a loud metallic hum, it flew straight toward him.

He opened his right hand and caught the sword mid-air.

Gripping it tightly, he slowly lifted his head and locked eyes with Hulim in the sky.

Their gazes met, and a silent standoff began.

“......”

Hulim studied Arudok’s drastically altered form carefully.

The crystal dagger still jutted from his chest—the tiny heart inside had vanished. His muscles bulged grotesquely, his veins turning purple as they writhed beneath his skin like writhing vines, pulsing in time with the strange heartbeat. His eyes had turned a blood-red crimson, all trace of rationality gone.

“ROOOOOAR——!”

And from his lips poured endless, meaningless roars.

Hulim quickly realized what had happened.

“Demonization again......”

No, wait.

If she remembered correctly, Gulos didn’t possess demonization techniques suitable for A-Rank warriors. This wasn’t one of his experimental potions.

Thinking back to the pulsing heart in the dagger and the bizarre changes in his veins, Hulim thought of someone she knew.

“......So this is some kind of parasitism using demon race organs—transforming your body into a demon’s to gain power?”

The problem was, once this process was done, there was no turning back to being human.

Realizing the source of Arudok’s transformation,

Hulim sighed softly.

“Tch. This just got a lot more troublesome.”

“ROAR——!”

Arudok suddenly let out a deafening roar. The sound itself formed a shockwave that shattered the rocks around him.

THUD!

In the next instant,

the ground beneath his feet caved in, forming a large circular crater. His body shot upward like a cannonball, hurtling toward Hulim at impossible speed.

“Round two, then.”

Hulim made no move to dodge. The Seven Luminaries in her hand blazed with brilliant light.

“This time, I’ll finish you for good!”

HUM——!!!

Nine magic circles unfolded in the air before her, overlapping one another.

A dazzling white light erupted forth.

Arudok swung his sword, cleaving the beam in two. The split light crashed down on either side of him, while his body was sent staggering backward by the impact.

BOOM——!

He crashed into the ground once more.

The white light faded away.

Silence fell over the battlefield once again.

A few seconds passed.

CRACK, CRACK......

The ground shattered violently across a wide area.

RUMBLE.

Arudok lifted a chunk of earth dozens of meters wide—like a small hill—from the ground.

He roared up at the sky, then hurled the massive boulder toward Hulim.

BOOM! BOOM!

Hulim’s attacks rained down on the boulder, shattering it piece by piece.

But behind the crumbling rock,

Arudok clenched his fist tightly.

THUD——!

He punched the boulder with all his might, smashing it into countless smaller fragments that shot toward Hulim at even greater speed.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH......

Arudok darted through the flying debris, using the rocks to obscure Hulim’s vision as he closed in rapidly.

Hulim raised the Seven Luminaries above her head, and the wand glowed with a brilliant green light.

“Ninefold Magic Circle: Sky Tremor!”

BOOM——!!!

A terrifying storm erupted instantly.

Invisible blades of wind tore through the air, reducing everything in their path to dust.

Arudok raised his arms to shield his chest. His skin was instantly flayed open, his flesh and blood exposed as the storm sent him sliding backward relentlessly.

He loosened his arms slightly.

Through the gap, his blood-red eyes locked onto Hulim’s retreating figure.

“......”

CRACK, CRACK......

His feet began to mutate, swelling grotesquely.

A large rock crashed into his transformed feet.

He crouched slightly, then pushed off with all his strength.

BOOM——!

The rock was instantly shattered to powder by the immense force.

Using the recoil, Arudok forced his way through the storm, streaking toward Hulim once again.

But before he could get close——

RUMBLE!

Countless bolts of lightning suddenly flashed across the sky.

Giant lightning serpents coiled and writhed in the air, then struck downward at him with unerring accuracy.

The speed of the lightning was impossible to dodge.

In the blink of an eye,

Arudok’s body was completely engulfed by the thunder and lightning.

The power of the lightning seeped into his body, rampaging through his internal organs and tearing them apart.

“ROOOOOAR——!!!”

He let out a howl of unspeakable agony.