The Only Enhancer - Chapter 189

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 189
189 – The Opening of the Great War (3)
As Mik and Hik surged forward at Decan’s command like arrows loosed from a bow, Min-jun fixed his gaze upon them before pivoting his attention entirely to Decan, launching himself toward him.
Decan couldn’t help but admire Min-jun as he watched him approach through the air.
Impressed by his unexpectedly formidable combat prowess, Decan tensed and uncrossed his arms, preparing to meet Min-jun.
Soon Min-jun arrived, closing the distance until they faced each other directly.
As Decan assessed Min-jun, I assessed him in return. The difference between observing from afar and standing face-to-face was undeniable.
Watching this creature of the Underground stand at ease upon the sea’s surface, I couldn’t help but let out a small gasp of admiration.
Up close, I felt a far more formidable aura emanating from him.
Simply by observing how masterfully he controlled such overwhelming power, I realized Decan was a warrior of reversal who had endured countless brutal battles.
Thus, as we regarded each other, both Decan and I tensed considerably and drew deep breaths.
Before I could make the first move, Decan spoke first.
-Would it be acceptable if I created some ground beneath us?
“Sure, no problem. Since you waited for me, that much is only fair, isn’t it?”
I grinned and spoke, and Decan smiled faintly before drawing upon his power.
Then, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, colossal earth began to rise.
Not forced upward, but literally surging forth—a vast, level plain materialized.
Observing the landmass alone, which appeared to span an area roughly the size of Seoul, I grinned widely.
Truly impressive, I thought, when Decan spoke to me.
-Merely a parlor trick. Shall we begin then?
At his words, I nodded in agreement, and both our auras transformed.
My aura had become subdued and settled compared to before, yet sharp and keenly honed like a blade’s edge, while Decan’s power erupted like a beast’s roar—massive and ferocious.
As the two of us stood in confrontation, there was one within my embrace who swallowed nervously, observing the scene.
None other than Morgana, the sister of Ursula, the Witch of the Deep Sea.
-M-m-mad monsters’ hero! It’s D-d-Decan! Master, please be careful! Excluding the Monster King, he is the strongest among all monsters!
“The Monster King was never a monster to begin with, though.”
-Ah? Then he is the strongest among all monsters!
At Morgana’s frantic words, my tension eased slightly, and I chuckled, nodding in acknowledgment.
So this is truly a formidable opponent, then.
As I smiled, Decan nodded at me, then pushed off the ground and charged forward.
There was no reason to hold back.
As Decan closed the distance and lunged at me, I quickly drew my weapon. The first blade I summoned was a sword.
With a sharp ring, a sword materialized, gleaming with a cold, pristine edge.
Decan’s eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing it. A sword of comparable caliber to his own.
In other words, an 8-Star weapon.
Yet that changed nothing.
I had seen plenty of 8-Star weapons during my battles with the Fairy King.
Thus, I charged forward without hesitation, attempting to dodge the blade and strike with my hand.
The movement was fluid and natural, and I nearly fell for it, exposing my abdomen—but I swung my sword, and as the blade moved, my body shifted naturally out of harm’s way.
A wound was carved into Decan’s crimson left hand, which appeared as though forged from hardened magma.
Scrape!
It was a judgment I couldn’t comprehend. My outer carapace clearly boasted tremendous defensive power.
The reason both arms were stained black was because that area represented the very edge of my carapace.
Yet he pierced through it and left a wound?
Faced with this incomprehensible phenomenon, Decan quickly came to a realization.
-‘That sword’s efficacy.’
Decan’s thought was indeed correct.
The sword Min-jun now wielded was the Illusory Blade Emptiness, which transformed all defenses into illusions.
A sword with the absurdly broken ability to ignore all enemy defenses while defending itself through illusions.
Though Decan didn’t fully understand Emptiness’s capabilities, he recognized that defenses were useless before that blade and moved accordingly.
There was the option of attacking from range to avoid the sword’s reach.
Even as a martial artist, Decan possessed multiple skills at his disposal.
But he sensed that fighting from a distance here would be meaningless.
As I’ve said before, Decan’s instincts bordered on precognition, so he trusted his gut and charged forward like a madman.
Legs as nimble as a cheetah’s kicked the ground fiercely, launching him like a beam of light toward Min-jun. As Decan flew in without leaving even an afterimage—as if teleporting—Min-jun tried to swing his blade. But at that moment, Decan activated a skill.
His entire body erupted in crimson flames, and from the form that left no afterimage, he extended arms glowing red like heated iron, trailing a meteor-like tail of light.
Screeeeeech!
He savagely tore through the air, raking five streaks of claws toward Min-jun, who couldn’t react to the speed and hastily swung his blade to defend.
But the range was too wide; before he could form an illusion, the creature’s crimson aura shredded Min-jun like claws.
Scraaaaaatch!
“Tch.”
Blood sprayed profusely, scattering through the air in countless droplets. Watching this, I couldn’t help but furrow my brow. It had been a long time since I’d taken wounds like this, but I accepted it as possible and healed them instantly using the holy aura I’d gained from empowering Henry.
Seeing this, Decan, as if he hadn’t expected it, activated another skill.
Then, from Decan’s back, magma erupted like a flash explosion, and as it burst forth into the air, Min-jun panicked and quickly deployed a technique.
He created a defensive barrier and used the aura of steel to form a massive steel wall, containing the magma. But Min-jun didn’t fully trust it and hastily used the Blink skill to escape that area—as if using the barrier merely as a temporary dam against the magma.
As Min-jun escaped, the magma inevitably swallowed the steel wall and melted it completely.
Sizzzzzzzzzzz―――!
I’d inwardly suspected it might come to this, but to actually see it happen.
It was terrifying magma. This didn’t seem like ordinary lava.
As Min-jun evaded that as well, Decan’s heart sank slightly, and he furrowed his brow faintly.
But judging it acceptable, he was about to charge again.
Min-jun spread his mana, and countless magical circles unfolded behind his back.
This time, magic powered by mana rather than skills—naturally, Decan grew wary and tried to retreat using his agile legs.
But the magic activated faster than Decan could move, surging toward him.
Watching the spells fly at him madly, Decan’s expression twisted sharply.
He couldn’t understand why the magic was flying so fast, but recalling what Hik had said, he nodded and once again used his crimson-stained arms to rapidly deflect the incoming spells.
Ching-ching-ching-ching-ching-ching!
Countless fragments of light poured down, and he swung his arms ceaselessly, forming them like a barrier—a wall of flesh.
Yet as time passed, Decan’s expression only grew more twisted.
With attacks this fast and this numerous, the power should have been weak, but shockingly, each individual strike was capable of inflicting considerable damage.
Had he tried to evade with the resolve to take several blows, he would have certainly suffered a devastating loss.
Though I wondered how this was even possible, Min-jun, as if that weren’t enough, unfurled yet another magic circle toward Decan.
Once again, countless magic circles materialized, but as they interlocked like gears of a mechanism, each tooth meshing with the others to form one colossal magic circle, Decan could finally comprehend the truth.
-‘If I simply stand here, I might die.’
Driven by something close to instinct, Decan channeled power into both his arms without thinking and cast a skill.
He unleashed that transcendent technique he possessed—the one most suited to this very moment—and braced himself against Min-jun’s magic.
Then, from the colossal magic circle that materialized behind Min-jun, a massive spear suddenly erupted forth and shot toward Decan.
Had it merely been large, its form would have been easy to shatter, but now, gazing upon that spear, Decan thought of it as a comet.
The tremendous physical force surpassing a meteor and the vast mana contained within that spear made him swallow hard involuntarily, and he too unleashed his transcendent technique.
As his hands clasped together, a crimson and obsidian light shot forth from his sharp fingertips, and that blood-red beam, fired like a laser, melted everything in its vicinity.
The heat was so tremendous that all the earth Decan had created ignited, and the sea surrounding it began to evaporate catastrophically.
In an instant, the seafloor itself was exposed by the overwhelming heat, and Min-jun’s spear too began to melt away.
Yet the immense mana and tremendous physical force contained within it could not be melted, and the two collided regardless.
A colossal impact devastated the surroundings, and the sea itself split and shattered as if torn asunder.
Had Min-jun not preemptively erected a protective barrier with his magic circle, every nation near the Pacific Ocean would have been swallowed by a tsunami of such magnitude.
Yet neither seemed to have sustained any damage, and even as the seawater evaporated by the impact rose skyward and poured down as rain, they regarded each other without blinking an eye.
Decan did so, Min-jun did so, and both exhaled deeply while observing one another.
Despite the tremendous battle, they both rushed at each other without respite.
Just now, the transcendent technique and Min-jun’s magic had collided.
To speak honestly, the transcendent technique should have claimed victory in that situation, yet Min-jun’s magic had stopped it—nothing less.
Witnessing this, Decan realized that Min-jun’s magic was far more formidable than even Hik had suggested, and he resolved to unleash the pinnacle of martial arts as he moved his body.
Watching Decan move nimbly with all his mana confined to his physical form, Min-jun likewise filled his body with mana and moved to match.
Movements more nimble than before and more fluid in their execution.
Yet unlike Decan’s pinnacle of martial arts, slight gaps in his defense began to show.
Clang!
As Decan’s arm and Min-jun’s blade clashed, an incomprehensible phenomenon occurred.
The illusory blade Heum, which should have been recognized as both attack and defense, failed to sever Decan’s arm, and instead, as Min-jun’s eyes widened in bewilderment at finding himself pushed back, Decan drove his remaining arm into Min-jun’s abdomen.
Squelch!

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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