The Only Enhancer - Chapter 194

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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 194
194 – The Reinforce Guild Grows! (2)
The lava aura that enveloped Mik possessed a scorching heat that should have melted steel mana with ease. Yet was it because of Min-jun’s enhancement? Or was it Ma Hyun-seok’s unwavering resolve?
The Heavy Star’s Core overcame the heat contained within Mik’s fist and came crashing down upon it.
Twoooooang!
The ground trembled with a shockwave that should have rippled across the entire Pacific Ocean, but Min-jun’s preemptively erected barrier prevented such devastation.
Without it, a considerable tsunami would have risen from this impact alone.
Yet this was far from the only exchange.
As Mik raised his left hand and drove another fist downward in a diagonal arc, my grip shattered as I gazed at the Heavy Star’s Core in my hand, and this time I thrust my shield forward to block.
Another tremendous shockwave erupted, and my shield hand’s grip burst open as well.
But I paid it no mind, grasping the Heavy Star’s Core once more and swinging it with renewed force.
Kwaaaaaaang!
A deafening explosion rang out as Mik was pushed back slightly, while I was sent flying, carving a long line across the ground before tumbling—thud, thud—and regaining my footing.
Whether from rolling across the ground or from failing to withstand Mik’s assault, my armor and body bore countless wounds. Yet none appeared to be fatal.
As I was sent flying, the guild members seized the opportunity to bombard Mik with attacks, but he had already vanished from that spot.
While their bombardment uselessly struck the earth, Mik reappeared directly before my eyes.
Though it seemed the onslaught was about to resume, I smiled faintly, used my shield as a brace to rise, and swung the Heavy Star’s Core toward Mik once more.
But this time was different.
I wielded not merely my characteristic mana, but also the Heavy Star’s Core’s skill in conjunction with it.
And when I activated that skill using my characteristic mana, it transformed into something altogether different from before.
The Heavy Star’s Core, which possessed the skill called Collapse, had previously been merely an ultimate ability that shattered with shockwave force.
But when I invoked the ultimate using my characteristic mana—
Uuuuuuuuuuung!
Watching the Heavy Star’s Core vibrate intensely and rapidly, Mik’s expression hardened.
This was unmistakably just an ultimate skill. Yet it carried characteristic mana within it. I couldn’t fathom what Ma Hyun-seok had done, but martial intent was clearly woven throughout.
Sensing this, Mik drew upon his own martial intent to strike down the Heavy Star’s Core.
Normally, his fist should have made contact and deflected it immediately, but it did not.
More precisely, his fist never touched the Heavy Star’s Core at all.
A minuscule gap remained between them. Mik could sense it clearly.
This wasn’t a miss—the frenzied vibrations were repelling him.
As countless impacts transmitted through the vibrations into his fist, the tremendous oscillation stripped the lava from Mik’s knuckles, and the raw flesh beneath shattered like fragile glass, his hand snapping backward.
As the recoil threatened to tear his limb away, Mik gritted his teeth and attempted to strike with his other hand, but I likewise swung the Heavy Star’s Core—still brimming with Collapse—at him.
-‘Is he trying to block my fist?’
In that instant, I recognized he was aiming the Heavy Star’s Core not at his fist but at his abdomen, and Mik hesitated.
No matter how formidable he was, taking such a blow would deal grievous damage. In that split second of indecision—whether to land this attack and resort to mutual destruction or to defend—
My eyes blazed with light.
As my gaze shone like silver steel, Mik likewise moved to strike me.
But I had already anticipated this, positioning my shield exactly where his fist would land.
-!!!!!!
In that instant, Mik’s eyes widened in disbelief. The Heavy Star’s Core made contact with his abdomen, and simultaneously, his fist struck my shield.
The shockwave created a semicircular ripple that expanded outward, causing the air and earth to tremble. With a deafening roar, both combatants were hurled backward.
Fwooooooooosh――――!
Crackle crackle crackle crackle!
Boom! Thud! Thud! Crash crash crash crash!
The tremendous impact sent both fighters reeling backward.
Ma Hyun-seok remained upright on both legs as he was driven back, his shield blazing with scorching heat, while Mik, struck hard in the abdomen, tumbled across the ground multiple times, leaving a long trail before crashing down and skidding away.
While Mik still lay unconscious on the ground, everyone unleashed their ultimate abilities in a frenzied barrage of attacks directed at him.
Countless ultimate techniques rained down—each one possessing overwhelming power sufficient to annihilate an entire city. Concentrated into a single point, these ultimate attacks drew a scream from Mik.
-Gaaaaaahhhhhhh!
Compounded by the wounds from the weight of the heavy star and now bombarded by ultimate techniques, Ma Hyun-seok watched tensely, waiting for Mik to emerge.
He had promised, as if sealing a contract, that after defeating Ma Hyun-seok, he would target the guild members. But since he was a monster, things might unfold differently.
That was why Ma Hyun-seok remained tense, waiting for Mik to burst through the black explosion cloud.
He had to be ready to defend his guild members at all costs.
But the very slow footsteps emerging from the black cloud carried none of that malice.
Rather.
Thud, thud, thud.
A single warrior emerged from the black cloud, announcing his presence.
Ma Hyun-seok couldn’t help but smile at the sight.
So there existed monsters who understood honor.
Honestly, how could one not be surprised?
Just as Ma Hyun-seok was astonished, Mik found himself equally shocked.
Ma Hyun-seok was clearly several levels below him.
Yet he had just been completely overwhelmed by Ma Hyun-seok, and he couldn’t comprehend it.
He certainly felt the combat prowess. But that prowess, while possessing tremendous power, was not technically perfect as a technique. Yet he had been defeated, and Ma Hyun-seok had achieved victory through superior skill.
In that moment, Mik recalled Decan from before the great war and nodded.
-Those who grow stronger through combat, and most of those with something to protect, are like that, you once said.
“…Hah. I’m grateful you see me that way.”
Though his words were vague, Ma Hyun-seok expressed his gratitude, and Mik smiled wryly, nodding at Ma Hyun-seok as if acknowledging that he deserved such recognition.
He was indeed worthy of such acknowledgment.
The difference between Ma Hyun-seok, who now had something to protect and was protecting it, and Mik, whose remaining kin were filled only with ugliness, was starkly apparent.
Like Decan, after the great war ended, Mik had contemplated.
The kin he had fought so hard to protect were disappearing as their lifespans ended, and the Monster King, the only means of increasing their numbers, was gone.
Watching his kind slowly face extinction, he had come to this battlefield when told to protect them.
Was there truly meaning in such an act?
Such doubt weighed heavily on his fists.
Was this weight in his fists truly justified?
Mik, who had harbored such thoughts, no longer allowed himself to think them.
The notion that he must protect his kin?
He no longer held it. What schemes the Witch of the Deep Sea was plotting no longer concerned him.
Now he wished to free himself from that heavy burden of responsibility and simply enjoy himself.
—I wish to savor this battle.
Mik murmured those words with a subtle smile, his gaze fixed on Ma Hyun-seok, who waited with an expression that said: come if you dare.
Though inferior in raw power, this man stood resolute, willing to raise his shield and advance before his comrades to block whatever came. A true guardian.
But what of himself?
Lost in such thoughts, Mik found himself hurtling toward Ma Hyun-seok without conscious intent.
As Mik’s swift assault drove forward, Ma Hyun-seok’s body tensed before he raised his shield and the Heavy Star’s Core to meet the flurry of wild punches.
Blocking those devastating strikes with his shield, Ma Hyun-seok sensed something amiss.
The weight he had felt moments before—it was gone entirely.
When he parried with the Heavy Star’s Core, his arm rose without resistance.
Watching Mik recover and unleash another barrage, Ma Hyun-seok drew upon his power and swung the Heavy Star’s Core with accelerated speed.
Yet to Mik, that weapon’s weight remained impossibly crushing.
Crash! Boom! Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash!
With each collision, Mik’s body became a tapestry of wounds. He drew upon lava to mend himself while channeling it into his fists for fiercer assaults, but why did it feel so different?
‘Light.’
Mik’s punches felt weightless.
As though he had released something precious with each strike.
Ma Hyun-seok deflected every one of those insubstantial blows and began landing successive hits with the Heavy Star’s Core.
As damage accumulated, Mik neither frowned nor resisted—instead, he smiled, nodding repeatedly as if affirming something fundamental.
Ma Hyun-seok wondered if Mik was holding back, but he was not.
The martial art Mik had spoken of remained in full effect, each technique a lethal strike.
After permitting several attacks, Ma Hyun-seok’s ribs were torn open and his shoulders hung in tatters.
Healing proved difficult; the healers behind him unleashed skills, ultimates, and transcendence abilities in frantic succession, yet the recovery remained negligible.
And still, Mik’s attacks felt impossibly light.
In that moment, Ma Hyun-seok understood.
He had reasons not to retreat. But did Mik?
The realization crystallized.
“…I see.”
As Ma Hyun-seok spoke, he grasped what Mik’s martial art truly was. Unlike when he had used Collapse before, Ma Hyun-seok now infused his entire being with surging steel-like resolve.
He anchored it firmly to the earth and ignited his will.
Witnessing that desperate determination to stop Mik at all costs, Mik laughed with genuine delight.
Countless strikes rained down; flesh burst, his body melted, yet Ma Hyun-seok held his ground. He swung the Heavy Star’s Core’s transcendence ability infused with his steel resolve—his very will—and Mik moved to block with his ultimate technique.
A devastating double-fisted strike, concentrated into one explosive blow.
But that punch was infinitely lighter than the Heavy Star’s Core, and it met the transcendence ability’s stellar weight head-on, his entire body rupturing.
Mik’s arms, shoulders, and chest burst open. Staring at the gaping wound punched through his torso by the Heavy Star’s Core’s mace-like impact, he spoke.
—Your victory.

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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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