The World Does Not Exist for ■■

Translator: FenrirTL
Editor: ford53
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< Chapter 13: A Destiny for the Prologue Boss (4) >

[Maggot! By my oath, I will not even allow death to take you!]

Immediately following the necromancer’s curse, a massive ripple of mana spread out.

Dung Beetle had crushed zombies, the bodies of the secretary and his entourage, and the zombies that were still standing were pulled towards the necromancer.

Like a magnet drawing in iron filings, bones, flesh, and blood began to swirl around the necromancer, coalescing into a massive lump.

By the time Dung Beetle had reloaded his shotgun, the lump had grown larger than the truck itself.

[Death, reverse your flow! Death, pile up!]

The writhing mass soon began to transform into the shape of a colossal giant.

The flesh and bones of zombies formed arms as large as containers, and the faces made from the intertwined corpses were as grotesque as those from a nightmare.

Dung Beetle, targeting the monster’s still incomplete lower body, pulled a pin and tossed a grenade.

The behemoth, which was just beginning to stretch out its legs, fell clumsily, but that was the extent of the effect.

Other corpses piled in through the hole in its lower body, quickly repairing the damage.

[Do you think your petty grenades can bring down my titan? The great gift given by the King of the Undying… Dammit, block it!]

Dung Beetle changed targets, throwing a grenade at the coffin containing the necromancer’s true body.

The unfinished giant hurriedly reached out to catch the grenade, and the grenade exploded silently in the giant’s fist.

The only damage it caused was the trickle of rotten blood flowing between the giant’s fingers.

[Kill him, kill that vermin!]

­Grraaahh!

The giant’s fist, obeying the order, pummeled down towards Dung Beetle.

The fist, disproportionate in size to its incredible speed, hit Dung Beetle and the container behind him with equal force.

Boom!!

The sound of containers collapsing was louder than the previous explosions.

‘Fast.’

Dung Beetle, allowing an unexpected blow, gasped for breath among the fallen containers.

There was no feeling in his left arm that had blocked the Titan’s punch.

To make matters worse, blood was filling his throat, indicating that a rib or two had also been broken.

Spitting out the blood in his mouth, he got up.

The fully formed gigantic corpse titan and the floating coffin looked down on him.

[Stronger than I thought, maggot.]

Dung Beetle didn’t reply but instead sprung up.

The titan’s fist hammered down where he had been standing.

Thump, thump, thump!

Dung Beetle ran, and the titan’s fists followed.

[Hahaha! Is this a game of tag fitting for a maggot?]

Glancing back, Dung Beetle gauged the distance to the necromancer.

‘With grenades and a shotgun, it’s impossible to take down the titan. I have to target the true body.’

He stopped and gathered mana in his thighs.

The titan’s fist, seizing the opportunity, swung at him.

Or at least, it would have.

Dung Beetle leapt up, narrowly evading the titan’s fist, then stepped on it, racing towards the giant’s shoulder.

Just as he was about to fire the shotgun at the necromancer’s true body—

Flash!

Light burst through the titan’s flesh.

A chilling green curse struck at Dung Beetle.

[Be careful, chaste one! You can block the curse, but not the shock!]

Thanks to barely holding onto the unicorn’s horn, he wasn’t afflicted by the curse, but he couldn’t avoid tumbling down from the titan’s shoulder.

Had the necromancer heard the warning given by the unicorn’s spirit as well?

As soon as Dung Beetle hit the ground, the titan’s fist smacked him down.

Pow!

Taking the punch head-on, Dung Beetle lost his footing and flew backward, rolling over the concrete pier.

[Oh no! Chaste one, are you alright!]

Dung Beetle gritted his teeth and regained his stance.

He had only allowed two hits, but his bones and organs were screaming in agony.

[Your endurance is quite remarkable. Heh heh heh, thanks to you, I can get a good practice in before my grand undertaking!]

The necromancer’s taunting echoed loudly, but Dung Beetle focused all his attention on dodging the titan’s attacks.

‘…There’s no chance of winning.’

The shotgun and grenades couldn’t reach.

The unicorn’s horn only served as a shield and his superhuman body was showing its limits.

‘I was complacent.’

The original plan was simple. A surprise attack with grenades.

Simple, yet he thought it was foolproof.

Even a necromancer couldn’t block grenades flying in from the darkness, he had assumed.

It was arrogance.

He should have been more thorough. He should have prepared more than what he had now.

If he had anti-tank missiles or landmines… he might have been able to stand a chance against the titan.

‘Should I retreat?’

Boom!

Dung Beetle fired the shotgun at the incoming fist, contemplating his options.

The titan staggered for a moment but quickly healed its wounds and charged at him again.

Two shots left in the shotgun, five grenades, and twenty bullets.

‘Victory is… improbable.’

Even if he poured all his remaining firepower into it, bringing down the necromancer was impossible.

‘Retreat.’

Dung Beetle pondered the word once more.

If there was no visible way to win, retreat could be an option.

A step back for the sake of future advancement—a perfectly rational and reasonable decision.

But…

‘No.’

Dung Beetle clenched his teeth.

Behind the word ‘retreat,’ he saw the faces of his dead comrades.

His colleagues who had died unjustly. It had been only three days since he had made their graves.

The blood he shed swearing revenge before burying them hadn’t even dried yet.

‘Absolutely no retreat.’

He knew it was not a rational decision.

But just as there was no logic in a raging fire, there was no reason in revenge.

From the moment he chose revenge, there were only two options left to him.

“Kill or death.”

Dung Beetle changed direction from his fleeing steps.

Like a cat chasing a mouse, the titan that had been pursuing him halted, and the necromancer mocked him.

[Have you given up on playing tag, maggot?]

Dung Beetle didn’t respond.

Instead, he recalled Park Seti’s evasion technique. Her movements, the muscles used in her kicks, and the mana that flowed along her muscles.

Following Park Seti’s memories, the next thing that came to mind was the titan’s movements he had been observing.

The power and speed derived from its overwhelming size… which is why the movements were simple.

The two sets of memories intertwined, leading to a question.

If it weren’t him but Park Seti… how would she have fought this monster?

Before the answer to his question could emerge, the attack began.

[The fun ends here. Now, embrace eternal agony.]

The titan’s fist cleaved through the air and descended.

It was a simple but powerful strike.

!!!

The shock hit the ground before the sound.

Dust rose from the pier, and the ground dented inward.

However, Dung Beetle stood.

Just one step away from the fist, he stood and looked up at the necromancer.

[What are you doing, kill him!]

The necromancer maneuvered the titan’s fists.

The giant hands composed of corpses slammed down on Dung Beetle’s head, creating craters in the pier’s floor.

But again, Dung Beetle stood.

The necromancer’s skull rattled in disbelief.

His senses, which felt mana instead of flesh and nerves, could feel what Dung Beetle had done.

He had dodged.

As a feather caught in the wind does.

Dung Beetle slipped through the physical fists, the intervals between blows, and the flow of shockwaves, evading all attacks.

But man is not a feather.

In fact, even an actual feather couldn’t escape in such a situation…

[What have you done?]

While the necromancer grappled with the incomprehensible reality, Dung Beetle leapt.

***

“Wow, what is that?”

Seti muttered to herself, peering through her telescope unaware.

Beyond her lens, at the place known as Pier 13, a battle reminiscent of David and Goliath unfolded.

Goliath was a giant formed from hundreds of corpses.

‘Was his name the Undead Titan?’

A monster created by a rare magic only found in history books.

The spell was originally used to create beings larger than city walls using thousands or tens of thousands of corpses; there was a historical record of a B-29 bomber bringing down such a creature.

The behemoth rampaging at the pier didn’t exert the same pressure, perhaps due to a relative shortage of consumed corpses but…

‘It doesn’t look like something a superhuman could handle alone.’

Seti licked her lips, turning her gaze to David, who was dodging the attacks on the other side.

The agility of the rookie superhuman she had seen a few days ago was unbelievable.

Could she even call him a rookie?

When considering evasion alone, in the style of Shadow Skipping, wasn’t he above the instructor who taught her?

“Just watching once and he’s able to steal the technique…”

Seti chuckled to herself as she watched Dung Beetle narrowly avoid the titan’s punches.

Of course, Shadow Skipping wasn’t a hard technique to learn.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t impossible to catch it just by looking over someone’s shoulder.

But simply learning it was entirely different from mastering it completely.

If it was something that could be mastered in just two days, it wouldn’t be called a secret technique.

“The world is vast, and there are many talents.”

Though she could hardly believe her eyes, if all that indeed stemmed from his talent… she could affirm that he was among the most overwhelmingly talented individuals she had ever seen.

In some ways, he might even surpass that much-touted hero candidate—

Flash!

While Seti was briefly distracted, a green light flashed above the titan’s head.

A curse, issued simultaneously by both the titan and the necromancer, enveloped the superhuman.

However, the curse did not reach him.

An ivory barrier around his body repelled the green curse, prompting the necromancer to spew out a curse of his own.

‘The handle of Uragan. So he had it all along.’

Seti remembered the last words he said before they parted.

He didn’t say he would ‘obtain’ the handle of Uragan for her, but that he would ‘hand it over.’

Just as she suspected.

A feeling of being somewhat cheated tickled her heart, but it didn’t last long.

‘Well, he was going to sell it to me anyway’

Watching the handle of Uragan repel all sorts of curses from the necromancer, she found herself looking forward to having the item in her hands.

“Oh, is he finally switching to offense?”

The battle between David and Goliath was reaching its peak.

Dung Beetle, who had been focused on evading, began to attack the titan and necromancer instead.

“Still, that might not be enough.”

She fiddled with a weapon at her side, pondering.

Shotguns, grenades, and kicks; all were good offensive tactics, but none were enough to be the David’s slingshot that brought down Goliath.

Without a decisive blow, Dung Beetle would tire first.

‘Should I start helping?’

She set the telescope aside and picked up the weapon.

The weapon she disliked, commonly known as the Warhammer, was a battle hammer. The sensation of the heavy metal coursed through her hand.

Though uncertain how long the fight at the pier would last, without her intervention, Dung Beetle was sure to die.

Seti made a logical and rational decision.

But then…

Boom!

A heavy rumbling that originated from Pier 13 washed over her, rustling her hair as it passed.

“…Huh?”

The titan was falling.

Trying to keep its balance, it grabbed onto the container stacks, but together they collapsed.

‘How?’

Seti picked up her telescope again and surveyed Pier 13.

Above the fallen titan, Dung Beetle stood.

He didn’t look quite right.

His mouth was smeared red as if he’d been vomiting blood, and his body slightly trembled, appearing as though his muscles had reached their limit.

Nevertheless, he stood.

‘What on earth did he do?’

It wasn’t the grenades or shotgun.

Shadow Skipping? But among those techniques, there wasn’t one capable of bringing down such a monstrosity.

As if answering her silent query, Dung Beetle moved.

He lifted his shaking legs.

His foot rose above his knee, his breaths were short, and his eyes braced for something.

His foot struck down on the titan’s head.

Ku­ uh­ uh­ !

A short sound of impact, the titan’s long wail, and the eruption of rotten flesh and filth.

Witnessing this scene, Seti jumped to her feet unintentionally.

“…True Strike?”

Footwork that gathers mana in the soles to maximize rebound force, and a technique that strengthens the body for a powerful downward kick.

But how much training and insight were needed to imbue such simplicity with will and power?

How many candidates despaired at the wall of True Strike?

Her father, the many failures she remembered, had done so.

Even she had not mastered it easily.

But Dung Beetle, rendering all that effort meaningless, had performed True Strike.

With no one’s teaching, no one’s help.

“Ah…”

After the aftershocks of True Strike passed, the cratered head of the titan, which had regenerated so well against grenades and shotgun blasts, was exposed.

Unlike before, that wound did not heal, surely due to the shock surpassing its regenerative abilities and breaking the spell itself.

Seti stared blankly at the sight, then closed her mouth as she looked up at Dung Beetle standing on the titan’s head.

He looked half-dead, barely alive.

‘The backlash was too great.’

His body and mana couldn’t keep up with the might of the technique.

At this moment, he would have difficulty even twitching a finger, and Seti wasn’t the only one who noticed Dung Beetle’s condition.

The dark-red coffin floating in the sky.

Inside, the necromancer began to weave a spell with a wave of his hand.

‘I can’t just leave him to die.’

Having confirmed Dung Beetle and the necromancer, Seti kicked off the ground, lifting the Warhammer.

A silvery light flashed from the Warhammer she held, and it began to soar through the darkness at the water’s edge.