Harpoons were embedded all over the Ghost King's body.
It looked as if someone had arranged flowers with harpoons.
All thirteen harpoons had struck their mark.
It was undeniably precise shooting; even an archer worthy of the title of Godly Archer wouldn't have been able to pierce the bastard so accurately.
Pour!
Blood flowing madly.
Pierced thighs and forearms, and even his chest.
With those kinds of injuries, the footsteps of the dead should be heard approaching immediately, but unfortunately, the deceased could not come near the Ghost King.
For in the face of the Ghost King's imposing presence, it was only natural that even the dead would be frightened and flee.
Above all else.
[[I… will… kill…!]]
The Ghost King was not an existence that would die from 'mere wounds' like this.
Kwaang!!
Even though he was wounded, his vitality had not diminished in the slightest.
For a normal creature, having their chest pierced and neck slit would undoubtedly be a crisis of death, but for the Ghost King, this couldn't even be counted as a scratch.
[[GAAA!!]]
It only fueled his anger.
The Ghost King's fist slammed down toward Lee Han.
Kwaaang!
A deafening explosion that shook the area along with a sonic boom.
It was a tremor that made one wonder if a seismic wave had erupted, and instantly, the people standing in the academy's vicinity frequently lost their balance and collapsed.
An aftershock that made it difficult to even keep one's balance occurred, and the origin of this seismic wave was, naturally...
Thud...!
It wasn't just dented; the ground was on the verge of caving in entirely.
The power to destroy a nation.
It was undeniable proof of how such a thing could exist.
In that situation.
"I'm right here."
[[!!?]]
At some point, he had climbed onto the Ghost King's shoulder and swung his sword mercilessly.
A simple strike without even the name of a technique.
Slash, slash!
It was a hacking frenzy.
His blade drew countless trajectories, hacking the Ghost King's arm to pieces.
Over ten slashes.
[[Die...!]]
However, the Ghost King's flesh was not something that could be easily pierced.
Of course, they had barely managed to pierce it with large harpoons; with average means, it would likely be difficult to even inflict a wound.
-That is, assuming his body is in normal condition.
Splatter!
[[!!]]
The bastard cried out in pain.
"That's what happens when you leave them stuck in like that."
He was sickened by the fool's stupidity in ignoring the harpoons embedded in its body, but at the same time, welcomed it.
Being stupid made it easier to deal with, didn't it?
The harpoons the Ghost King hadn't managed to pull out, and the cracks caused by them.
By precisely hacking and digging into those spots, the Ghost King's arm was brutally mangled.
[[Get... away!]]
A fist came rushing in with a whoosh.
A swift and accurate strike that didn't match its massive size.
Those watching might associate it with a boulder falling from the sky.
As if inversely proportional to its intelligence, its physical body was truly extraordinary.
Whizz!
"You bastard. Your physical specs are seriously something else."
But Lee Han immediately dodged the falling fist.
The technique of Bow God's Bullet Shadow.
A technique where one moves instantly like a shot arrow; it was his own unique high-speed movement art.
Lee Han literally moved like the wind, and every time he did...
Swoosh!
He repeated swinging his sword.
Back and legs, shoulders and knees, groin and neck.
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
Lee Han clearly reproduced those words, personally demonstrating the textbook perfect hit-and-run tactic.
However, no matter how quickly and skillfully he was toying with his opponent, letting his guard down was strictly forbidden.
For good reason.
[[N, no-!]]
Kwaaaa!
...Because even a single mistake would lead to death.
"Ha, you monster bastard..."
Lee Han let out a dry laugh, sweating profusely.
-Every time the bastard's arms and legs swung, an overwhelming pressure washed over him, making his whole body tingle.
It felt as if razor blades made of wind were scratching him, while a heavy hammer pummeled his entire body at the same time.
'How is this considered weakened?'
It was absurd.
This was supposedly a power that didn't even reach 30% of its prime.
If it were at 100%, he would have died long ago.
'No, even if it's not in its prime, if it just had a better head on its shoulders, it would have been over.'
It was only possible to fight it because the bastard only used brute force ignorantly.
If this thing's intelligence was just a bit sharper, allowing it to use martial arts, or if it had run away to ravage another place, this fight would have become meaningless long ago.
There was merit in 'deliberately' provoking it to focus its hostility and killing intent solely on himself.
At least until it killed him, it wouldn't leave this spot.
Therefore.
'I really can't afford to die here.'
The moment he died, the Colosseum's disciples, as well as all the students of the academy, would all perish.
Lee Han, whose mission had somehow become immensely heavy, harbored a new resolve against the Ghost King, who was slowly getting used to his movements and trying to launch an attack.
The resolve to never be broken through, that is.
So.
'I won't give you the chance to get used to it.'
Whoosh!
He decided to show it something even more flashy.
Wobble!
The Ghost King wavered.
It was understandable; it thought it had finally caught him and moved its body with full force, only for the opponent to suddenly disappear.
However, Lee Han hadn't disappeared.
He merely.
Swish! Whoosh!
[[!!]]
He had simply taken a much more complex movement than before.
Lee Han's movements were free as if there were no set rules, yet held a bewilderment that mocked his opponent.
For a moment, the afterimages created by Bow God's Bullet Shadow dazzled the Ghost King's eyes, even causing a phenomenon of sensory disruption in the Ghost King's perception.
[[Got... faster.]]
"━━."
Lee Han gritted his teeth, unable to even let out a groan.
The moment he displayed his carefully hidden secret ultimate technique, his entire body screamed out in agony.
However, the effect was outstanding, and Lee Han moved even more aggressively to toy with his opponent.
It was originally a hidden ultimate move he intended to show Valtar, yet to think he would display it to a monster first.
- Phantom Eight Trigrams Step
It applied the maximum speed created by Bow God's Bullet Shadow, the afterimages produced by it, and the principles of the Eight Trigrams.
It was still merely incomplete.
Partly because of his lack of knowledge regarding the Eight Trigrams, and partly because attempting to execute a movement technique while considering the principles of the Eight Trigrams placed an overload on him.
However.
'Toying with a single monster should be possible.'
It was Lee Han's movement technique, imbued with the profound mysteries within freedom and the illusions created alongside his high-speed movement; it was more than enough—excessive, even—to mesmerize a monster.
Crack!
...Unfortunately, it wasn't a technique he could use for long.
The strain on his body was no joke.
He couldn't endure it for long.
So what he had to do was.
"Hoo!"
Drive in even more devastating attacks while the bastard couldn't get its bearings.
Crunch!
[[??]]
The Ghost King's jaw was spun sideways.
It certainly hurt, but what the Ghost King couldn't understand was...
[[Why-?]]
It's right there?
The fellow's presence was clearly down below, so why did its head turn?
Unable to comprehend this, the question preceded the pain.
Hundred Steps Divine Fist.
In boxing or martial arts, having long arms and legs—in other words, a long reach—is one of the crucial elements to dominating a match.
In that sense, to deal with a monster whose reach difference was more than dozens of times his own, there was nothing better than the Hitting the Cow Across the Mountain technique.
Hence, the Hundred Steps Divine Fist.
Lee Han's fist strike, which re-established the Hitting the Cow Across the Mountain technique into a boxing art.
The strikes of the Hundred Steps Divine Fist, which ignored the opponent's size and reach, continuously pummeled the bastard's body from all directions.
Pound pound pound pound!
[[Gaaa!!?]]
Sensory disruption using the Phantom Eight Trigrams Step.
Indiscriminate strikes through the Hundred Steps Divine Fist, which rendered distance and direction meaningless.
Adding onto that.
Boom!!
Even a Fa Jin infused with the profound principles of the Internal Heavy Hand Technique.
Lee Han was undoubtedly pushing the Ghost King back.
...However, in the eyes of a third party watching this.
"Uh, how, Instructor is going to die at this rate!"
It looked as though he could reach his limit and collapse at any moment.
Although the one currently being overwhelmed was the Ghost King, its regenerative power was still intact, and its emitted presence had not diminished in the slightest compared to when it first appeared.
It was merely panicking at techniques it had never seen before; the moment it got used to those techniques-.
"N, no!"
Just imagining it was horrifying.
[No matter who he is, using such large techniques in succession will take a toll! Arin, quickly help him with magic!]
"There has to be an opening to help!"
Wouldn't Irene want to help him?
But ordinary magic didn't work on the Ghost King's body.
Even now, no matter how she tried to attack with magic, the mana was nullified.
A powerful magic resistance that explained why Odwal had lost his will to fight the moment he saw the Ghost King.
But Irene.
"Something big, I absolutely have to prepare one big hit..."
Irene gathered as much mana as she could.
The opponent has a strong mana resistance?
Then she just had to launch an overwhelming volume of attack that even that resistance couldn't stand against.
That was why the girl gathered her mana with all her might, waiting for an opportunity to cast her spell at any moment.
To help him, who was in a crisis...!
"T, then, is it enough to just create an opening?"
"Yeah, just make an opening!"
"...How big of an opening do you need?"
"Hmm, about one meter away from the Instructor?"
"I, I understand. I'll try to create an opening once."
"I'd appreciate that, but... who are you?"
"...Are you only asking that now?"
The boy with a faint presence looked at Irene in disbelief.
He had a disappointed expression, as if she was different from the image he had expected.
Irene blinked, not understanding why he was feeling disappointed in her, but instead of satisfying her curiosity, the boy...
"...Hoo, just consider me a passing cowardly bastard. Despite not being able to do anything, I only made requests to that person..."
"Huh?"
"So I should at least help, even if it's late."
The boy with striking gray hair stepped forward with an incomprehensible murmur, unleashing his trump card, his final resort that he staked his life on.
[Thief Class - Final Tier Skill]
"...Sky Full of Flower Rain, activate...!"
- The sky is full of flower rain.
Derrick, he dropped a rain of concealed weapons from the sky.