I was Born in the Final Demon Realm of a Dark Fantasy

At first, I had doubts.

Could I really develop my martial arts further here?

Seeing the identically-looking bald men with dumb expressions repeating the same movements, I couldn’t help but think that way.

But what lingered in my mind was Jagan’s overwhelming power.

And he was merely a 3rd-class warrior.

Then how strong would 1st-class warriors be, and beyond them, special-class warriors?

Ultimately, recalling that strength I had experienced firsthand, I adapted to this collective lifestyle.

And among 100 bald men, I too became bald and thought while extending my fist just like them.

‘…This might actually be an incredible martial art?’

On the surface, it seemed like a simple movement.

But there was an intuitively perceptible high-level principle.

I instinctively felt that it was a refined, high-level technique that had accumulated years of experience and removed all unnecessary elements.

From that moment, my doubts disappeared.

The martial art taught here was absurdly simple.

Strong, medium, weak.

Strike strongly.

Strike with medium force.

Strike weakly.

It was divided into just those three.

‘Do they hate thinking?’

Even the martial arts I had established before coming here had more than five classifications for attacks.

It seemed strange that a much more complex and sophisticated martial art would be divided into just three categories.

After the period of blindly learning as instructed passed, and I began to understand the essence of this martial art, I realized why it was divided that way.

This martial art had already completed the compression of compression of compression.

Extreme practicality.

Truth is inherently simple, and though it may seem complex, it ultimately converges into one path.

As experience from life-or-death situations accumulates, one realizes that nothing beyond those three classifications is necessary.

I gained an unexpected enlightenment there.

I combined that enlightenment with the one I already had.

‘Even so, it’s too simple.’

It wasn’t an easy attempt. Perhaps it was a lifelong aspiration I needed to achieve on my martial path.

After all, I hadn’t yet properly understood those three classifications.

As I slowly progressed on my own path like that, I naturally became the top student of this class.

I was the only one who had broken through the wall twice in this place.

Privileges were given to the top student.

They could choose which division to join.

The way warriors were divided here was simple.

3rd-class, Division 7. It was Jagan’s division. They mainly handled security while traveling between various cities.

On the day of choosing divisions, Jagan came to persuade me.

To join him.

Although I felt grateful to Jagan, Division 7 wasn’t in my heart.

Real combat. I needed to experience real combat where lives were at stake.

That was the new goal I had set while gaining enlightenment.

So I chose Division 1. Surprisingly, Jagan respected my choice. After all, he was the one who discovered me.

Division 1 was tasked with exploring the “Monster Forest” located in the north.

Monster Forest, as called by monsters. I couldn’t even imagine how terrible it might be.

According to what I was taught, it was a land where contaminated beasts were multiplying with abnormal strength.

Naturally, it was a dangerous mission for 3rd-class warriors to handle alone, and they usually operated under subordinate divisions of 2nd or 1st-class warriors.

A place where I could experience real combat and directly observe the martial prowess of 1st-class warriors.

There was no better environment to improve my skills.

I was assigned to Division 1 as I wished.

The leader there was a man named Karon.

He was even more stoic than Jagan. However, his skill was a level above Jagan’s.

While Jagan had broken through the second wall and had been stagnant for quite some time, Karon was a man on the verge of the third wall.

If he broke through the third wall, he would probably be promoted to 2nd-class.

And so, I spent six months adapting to this place.

The Monster Forest was a truly fucking terrible place.

The slimy ground made your feet sink everywhere you went, and on rainy days, even taking a single step was difficult.

The massive trees stretching above covered the sky, not allowing even a speck of sunlight through, but strangely, it was suffocatingly hot and humid inside the forest.

Even warriors who could blow away mountains with a single punch couldn’t bring down the trees here.

The trees were also contaminated. I didn’t know by what, though.

The very first beast I encountered was already at least twice my size.

Not just in size, these creatures were intelligent predators who knew how to control their strength.

We had to explore and pioneer this place.

2nd or 1st-class warriors led the vanguard in pioneering the Monster Forest.

However, the rear wasn’t safe either.

If we encountered a pack of beasts, a desperate life-or-death battle would ensue.

They say the survivor is the strong one, right?

Truly, if you survived there, you couldn’t help but become stronger.

After six months, I faced the third wall.

I had already surpassed Jagan’s skill.

Just a year and a half ago, Jagan was an overwhelmingly incomprehensible being to me.

But now, my understanding of the principles of power distribution and concentration was higher.

Only then could I finally agree with Ger’s words.

The talk of having talent.

Because if I didn’t have talent, there would be no reason for me to already have skills on par with the leader of Division 1.

‘Or is it because I think more deeply, even if just a little?’

And again, in less than six months, I broke through the third wall.

It was because I could easily gain enlightenment by observing the movements of the 2nd or 1st-class warriors I saw every day.

From then on, I could infuse my attacks with intent.

If I imbued them with killing intent, they gained terrifying destructive power.

And so I became a 2nd-class warrior.

The difference between 2nd-class and 1st-class warriors wasn’t significant. After all, both remained in the state of having broken through the third wall.

However, the number of 1st-class warriors was limited. In other words, you had to defeat someone to take their place.

From then on, I challenged 1st-class warriors whenever I had free time.

Around that time, I heard that Ger and Tol had entered the training cave.

I went to see them and simply smiled, just as Jagan had done to me.

“What’s wrong? Happy to see us after so long?”

“Yes, really happy.”

Ger and Tol looked at me with bewildered faces, but even that didn’t last long.

They were soon dragged away by the warrior in charge of training.

I became a 1st-class warrior before they even came out of the training cave.

It was the year I turned eighteen. The year I officially became an adult.

I was the youngest 1st-class warrior.

But that didn’t mean I had broken through the fourth wall.

To become a special-class warrior, one had to break through the fourth wall.

Around that time, the Monster Forest started to feel familiar to me.

Even the smell of rotten leaves mixed in the wind, even the damp sensation of mud being stepped on.

It was the same with fighting monsters.

The beasts encountered in the Monster Forest now felt almost like friends.

But fellow 1st-class warriors said that’s when it’s most dangerous.

Because you never know when or where you might encounter a severely mutated beast.

And I entered a period of slight stagnation.

Comrades with whom I had shared life and death, building a bond. There was no one with higher skills to observe and learn from, and I couldn’t find a reason to become a special-class warrior.

A year passed like that.

While I was focusing on establishing the system of martial arts I had been developing, I encountered that most dangerous time my comrades had spoken of.

It was a beast I had never seen in two years. Its height easily exceeded 10 meters, and its bulk was such that even five men of my build standing side by side wouldn’t be enough.

Every time it inhaled, the surrounding air seemed to distort as if being sucked in.

“…This is the kind of creature that should only appear in the forbidden zone.”

Someone muttered in a trembling voice.

But we were already in a situation where we couldn’t retreat.

“Get it together! We can handle this!”

“Don’t chicken out! I’ll bury anyone who cowers when we get back. You know I sleep well in the earth caves.”

The 3rd-class warriors retreated to the rear to alert other comrades about the existence of this monster, and Division 3 of the 1st-class, my division, faced the beast.

After a fierce battle, Division 3 was completely annihilated.

Except for me.

To be honest, it was even embarrassing to call it a fierce battle.

It was overwhelmingly strong, as if we would burst if it just lightly pressed us with its finger.

No matter how much we hit it, the creature didn’t even flinch.

It would only twitch slightly at attacks imbued with killing intent, but it had no problem killing us.

The leader, withstanding the creature’s attacks until the end, told me to run.

“You are our greatest talent. You alone must survive.”

I couldn’t bring myself to leave. It was the first time I felt a sense of belonging.

They were such good comrades that for the first time, I felt proud of my decision not to walk the path alone.

While I hesitated, the leader was crushed to death under the beast’s fist.

So horribly that even his corpse couldn’t be found.

Blood splattered everywhere. Being nearby, I was covered in it from head to toe.

It was a kind of despair I had never felt before. Different from loneliness.

But it was still sufficiently painful.

In that moment.

With a sound like tearing the sky, five warriors appeared.

They were special-class warriors who had rushed over after receiving the distress call from the 3rd-class warriors.

Without saying a word, they calmly walked toward the beast.

And they toyed with the creature that we couldn’t even scratch.

What was the difference? What exists beyond the fourth wall that creates such an overwhelming gap?

Watching them move, I realized.

I was still far off. Still too weak.

From that moment, my goal was set again.

To break through the fourth wall. To become a special-class warrior.

And to kill all these beasts.

The forbidden zone.

Setting foot there became my new goal.