As soon as the signal for the start of the battle dropped, Seongsik’s hand began glowing bright blue. Lightning gathered there.

Crackle—

With a loud spark, thunderbolts wrapped around both of Seongsik’s hands. Then he stretched both hands out toward Boris. At that moment, massive strands of thunderbolts began to pour out from his hands.

Crackkk!

The entire sequence took place in the blink of an eye. It was so fast that most Superhumans wouldn’t even be able to react. But Boris was far beyond the realm of “most Superhumans.”

“Hmph.”

With a short breath, he dodged the bundle of thunderbolts. An astonishing speed.

He dodged that?

Seongsik was stunned. That attack just now wasn’t even one where he had drawn out his full power. It was an attack using only the minimal necessary steps to fire as quickly as possible.

By sacrificing power, he had instead increased the speed dramatically. In fact, no one here besides Boris had even realized that Seongsik had attacked. A flash burst out, and in the next instant, the thunderbolts that had been fired from Seongsik’s hands had already struck the wall on the opposite end. An attack of extreme speed.

Impressive…

But Seongsik’s thought didn’t last. Boris, after evading the attack, immediately charged in.

An inevitable gap created after an attack. Boris targeted that tiny opening and lunged.

Whoosh—

Screech.

Boris’s right hand, slashing like a claw, grazed Seongsik’s side. Twisting his body and using Heaven-Splitting Steps, Seongsik barely avoided Boris’s attack by a hair’s breadth.

But Boris didn’t stop there. As if he had anticipated the dodge, he seamlessly flowed into the next attack. And Seongsik, as though he had expected that as well, avoided the offensive again without any sign of panic and swung his leg to counterattack.

“Wow.”

“Insane.”

There wasn’t even a second to take your eyes off the fight. The exchange of attacks and defenses between the two interlocked so precisely, it was as if choreographed.

In a way, it was to be expected. At the level of 7-Star, both of them were fighting not just one move ahead, but two, even three steps ahead—an advanced level of combat prediction and execution.

“Hap.”

The one who signaled the end of the hand-to-hand exchange was Seongsik. He acknowledged Boris. In the previous series of attack and defense, he had realized that he was being outmatched. So he conceded defeat in pure hand-to-hand combat.

Along with Seongsik’s shout, countless chains erupted from the shadow beneath Boris’s feet. If it had only been the chains, he could’ve easily avoided them. But this came while he was in the middle of dodging Seongsik’s shout-backed attack. That made it difficult to evade the chains underfoot.

Slide. Shhhk.

With the sound of scraping skin, Boris’s limbs were bound tightly by the chains.

“!”

For a moment, a startled expression appeared on Boris’s face.

Seeing that, Seongsik once again used his Materialization. As he twisted the arms extended toward Boris, some of the chains transformed into sharp thorns.

Crack.

At the same time Seongsik clenched both fists, a great number of shadow thorns shot toward Boris.

“Oooooh—”

“Whoa, is it over?”

The audience watching cheered at Seongsik’s apparent victory. To anyone watching, the attack was flawless. They thought it was the decisive blow that would end the battle.

But the cheers didn’t last long.

Bzzzz—

The necklace around Boris’s neck emitted a golden light. As Seongsik’s shadow chains and thorns touched that light, they crumbled without resistance and returned to shadow.

“What?”

This time it was Seongsik who was shocked. It was an entirely unexpected situation.

For the first time since learning Materialization, Seongsik felt what it was like for his power to be nullified so powerlessly. It was a truly bizarre sensation. If he had Heaven-Splitter with him, he might’ve understood what was happening, but Heaven-Splitter lay dormant in his inventory.

Having shattered the shadow chains, Boris charged toward Seongsik once more without a moment’s hesitation. But Seongsik wasn’t about to just stand still either.

“Ice Prison.”

With Seongsik’s words, pillars of ice erupted from the floor, surrounding Boris.

“Petty tricks…”

Boris swung his arm forward with the same momentum he had while charging. The ice pillars shattered easily. The Ice Prison Seongsik had created became a half-dome with only the entrance exposed, resembling an igloo.

Muttering about cheap tricks, Boris stepped forward to exit the ice prison. And right then—a mass of pure white light came flooding in before his eyes.

Kuwaaaahng!

It was as if a bomb of light had exploded. Utilizing the refractive nature of light, it was detonated inside a space completely surrounded by ice walls. The light energy scattered within the prison, doubling the damage inflicted on Boris.

The synergy between the Ice and Light attributes was incredible. A massive elemental explosion occurred.

This time…

That’s why Seongsik believed Boris must have taken meaningful damage this time.

“Hoo, that was pretty impressive.”

“……!”

But Boris was fine. His clothes were in tatters, and there were burn marks all over his body, but it didn’t seem like he had taken any serious damage.

It was meant to be the finishing blow. Yet it looked like Boris hadn’t even been scratched. Seongsik was utterly dumbfounded.

“No way, what is that?”

“He’s fine after that kind of attack?”

The spectators were just as baffled. Since most of them were Korean, they had been cheering for Seongsik. They had thought he’d finally landed a solid blow, but seeing Boris completely fine, they began to jeer. To them, Boris’s defense made no sense.

“Ah, that thing…?”

That’s when someone noticed the necklace hanging from Boris’s neck and muttered something.

“Why? What is it?”

“Isn’t that the ‘The Guardian Necklace of Nivas’?”

“No way, it is. Holy—”

The true identity of the necklace Boris was wearing. A few people who recognized it let out gasps.

That’s…

Seongsik also recognized the necklace Boris was wearing, and his brows furrowed instinctively.

As if sensing Seongsik’s reaction, Boris spoke with a sly grin.

“Looks like you figured out what this is, huh?”

He lightly lifted the necklace with his right hand and gave it a shake, looking utterly smug. It was the same look as someone flaunting a cheat-level item.

But in truth, the necklace Boris was wearing deserved to be called a cheat-level item.

The Guardian Necklace of Nivas. A [Legendary]-grade artifact.

Its held options were a single magic resistance and a single skill. How could such sparse options classify it as a [Legendary]-grade item?

The reason was simple. It drastically increased attribute resistance. A massive anti-attribute item that granted a staggering +60 attribute resistance.

+60. An insane number. It was even +60 to all attributes.

In fact, since attribute resistance becomes critically important at higher levels, some argued that this should be classified as a [Mythical]-grade item. On top of that, the skill it possessed nullified attribute power.

Skill (Attribute Nullification): Nullifies all attribute powers within a 5-meter radius.

Cooldown: 10 minutes

It was truly a disaster of an item for Superhumans whose primary offense relied on attribute power. This was once an item that had been listed on the community shop, its options open for everyone to see. Because of its astronomical price, everyone regarded it as pie in the sky.

But then, one day, it suddenly got sold. The necklace whose whereabouts were unknown since then was now hanging from Boris’s neck.

“If I had to face someone with this item and 100 attribute resistance, I’d surrender before the fight even began.”

Those were the words of Elemental Master Jenny.

And they made sense. If someone wore that necklace and also had other items or traits that boosted resistance, they could hit a total of +100 attribute resistance. It was truly a ridiculous, overpowered item.

If someone with +0 attribute power attacked someone with +100 attribute resistance, the majority of the damage would be halved. To deal with someone with high attribute resistance, one needed just as high attribute power.

The problem was, achieving that level of attribute power wasn’t easy. Thanks to his SSS-grade trait, Sungshik’s attribute power had increased a bit, but aside from that, he had no way to boost it. His attribute power didn’t even exceed +50.

‘Attribute power won’t work.’

Sungshik gave up cleanly. Originally, he thought attribute power would be enough to win—but he had been wrong.

But that didn’t mean he planned to give up here.

Srrng.

He drew a sword from the scabbard at his waist. It wasn’t the Heaven-Splitting Divine Sword. But it was still worthy of being called a fine sword. Jin Yongchan had sent it to him upon hearing that Sungshik was going to fight Boris—a sword worthy of being called a masterpiece.

“Oho.”

Boris let out a low murmur of admiration. The moment Sungshik drew his sword, his entire atmosphere changed—calm and composed in an instant.

The calm before the storm. That was how it felt.

“But brats trained in martial arts never win against me.”

He had never struggled against martial artists. Thanks to the trait [SS Rank] Beast’s Instinct. That trait bestowed him with the power and senses of a beast.

Sungshik seemed to have learned some fairly advanced martial arts, but Boris was confident it wouldn’t work against him. Especially since Sungshik wasn’t even wielding the [Mythical]-grade weapon he usually used—then there was no need to even consider it.

Swagger.

Boris approached Sungshik with unhurried, confident steps. One might even think he was just out for a casual stroll rather than preparing for battle.

But Sungshik could tell. That was the movement of a beast. The moment he showed even the slightest opening, Boris would pounce. It looked as if the man was evaluating how to cook the prey standing before him.

‘Without the Heaven-Splitting Divine Sword, I can really feel the difference now.’

The boost in physical strength and magical power that sword brought, the amplification of mana—all of it made a huge difference. But in facing Boris now, this level was acceptable.

He pointed the sword he held straight at Boris.

Flinch.

Boris, who had been closing in, visibly flinched. His instincts had sensed danger. In that brief moment, he realized that Sungshik was different from the fledglings he had faced so far.

And rightfully so. Sungshik held the trait [S Rank] Sword Sovereign. A trait that turned any sword wielder into a ‘genius of the sword.’ The very reason the Sword Emperor could exist as such was largely due to this trait.

‘I can see it.’

How to bring Boris down for good. How to easily subdue a beast like Boris. How to swing the sword—the path of the blade was vividly clear. This was the power of the Sword Emperor’s genius granted by [S Rank].

Sungshik moved first.

Shooo—

With a sharp slicing sound, his sword tore through the air.

Pop.

Boris narrowly dodged, but his right arm was grazed and blood spurted out.

But Sungshik’s assault didn’t stop there. Like flowing water, the sword strikes continued endlessly and smoothly. Boris was barely able to evade each one.

“What the... sh*t.”

He looked utterly flustered by the level of Sungshik’s swordsmanship. And no wonder—Sungshik wasn’t merely relying on the [S Rank] Sword Sovereign’s gifted talent.

[EX Rank] Heaven-Splitting Martial Arts. The subtleties of ‘Heaven-Splitting Martial Arts’ were woven into every strike. And with the Heaven-Splitter Eyes, he read all of Boris’s movements. The combination of the martial art and the Sword Emperor was a catastrophe for Boris.

‘Beast’s Instinct’ had always given him the right answers. He instinctively knew how to win against his opponent.

But this time, he couldn’t find the answer.

‘Damn it, I can’t see a way out.’

As he clenched his teeth, Sungshik’s voice pierced his ears.

“So? What was that about martial arts?”

“Kgh…”

In an instant, the tide had turned. Boris’s upper body was now covered with shallow wounds inflicted by Sungshik’s sword.

“Whoa, what the hell?”

“He was that good with a sword?”

“The next Sword Emperor…”

Everyone was astonished watching Sungshik overwhelm Boris with a single blade. If this combat footage were to be made public, people comparing Sungshik to the Sword Emperor would pop up like mushrooms after the rain. Even at a glance, his swordsmanship was clearly beyond ordinary—enough to be compared to the Sword Emperor.

As Boris was unilaterally pushed back by Sungshik, cornered and struggling—

“Graaaaah, you bastard!!”

He suddenly let out a roar.