Chapter 12
The Demon King’s Disciple
Having steeled his resolve, Jinhyuk stepped into the Demon King’s castle.
“What a nauseatingly noble light.”
Standing before the Demon King, Jinhyuk quietly drew a deep breath.
Don’t be intimidated. Feel the demonic energy. Follow its flow.
Until now, merely standing before the Demon King had been enough to make breathing difficult.
But from this point onward, he would have to fight.
“Warrior, I acknowledge your courage in coming here alone.”
“…”
Jinhyuk offered no reply. He simply waited for the Demon King to make the first move.
I still can’t fully react to his attacks… but I know the timing.
He could instinctively feel a strange energy gathering within the Demon King’s fist.
The moment it moves, dodgeā
BOOM!
[You have died.]
[Infinite Regression activated.]
[A certain energy interferes with regeneration.]
[Climber Trait: Blessing of Light (SSS+) applied.]
“Hmph. Dead already? What an unpleasant fellow.”
Naturally, Jinhyuk had failed to dodge.
A sharp crack echoed through the hall as his body exploded into pieces.
The Demon King stared at his own fist.
“Strange. I sensed a trace of demonic energy.”
At the very last moment, the warrior had somehow deflected a fraction of the attack.
And there had been that odd sensation…
Still, the opponent was already dead.
The Demon King quickly lost interest.
“I have no interest in the weak.”
This is going to take forever…
Jinhyuk smiled bitterly as darkness swallowed him.
* * *
[Regeneration complete.]
[Challenge: 99th Floor.]
[Defeat the Demon King.]
Pain surged through his body as regeneration finished.
“Ugh…”
His groan was far quieter than before.
Rather than collapsing from agony, he remained standing and calmly endured it.
This much is manageable now.
For most people, the pain would have been enough to drive them unconscious.
But Yoo Jinhyuk’s tolerance had risen to absurd heights.
Compared to everything he had suffered before, this was almost laughable.
The magic circuit… Mana flows through that path.
Ironically, the pain itself was helping him understand the structure of the circuit.
There was no reason not to laugh.
Gathering the newly acquired demonic energy, Jinhyuk headed straight back to the Demon King’s castle.
Standing confidently before the throne, he spoke.
“I’m going to die soon anyway. At least tell me your name before we fight.”
The Demon King answered with a mocking smile.
“Across all dimensions, those who know my true name can be counted on one hand. The name I shall grant you is the Void Demon King. That is enough.”
As expected, he won’t reveal it.
Still, he had learned the Demon King’s title.
Void Demon King… it suits him.
Jinhyuk gathered the demonic energy within himself.
“Come at me.”
“As you wish, warrior.”
BOOM!
The result was obvious.
His timing was perfect.
His body still exploded.
* * *
[You have died.]
[Regeneration complete.]
[Challenge: 99th Floor.]
[Defeat the Demon King.]
Eleventh attempt.
The moment he revived, Jinhyuk charged into the castle without a word.
“No greetings? No questions? Wonderful!”
The Demon King grinned and threw a punch.
Jinhyuk died.
Again.
Twelfth attempt.
I’m starting to understand it.
The flow of magical power through the body.
By utilizing it, one could temporarily amplify physical abilities far beyond normal limits.
The reason he had recklessly rushed in during the previous attempts had been simple:
He was experimenting.
And the results had exceeded expectations.
For a brief instantā
He had seen the Demon King’s fist.
[Basic Mana Control acquired.]
The technique was primitive, almost embarrassing to call mana manipulation.
But Jinhyuk now possessed a circuit comparable to that of a demon.
The Demon King’s demonic energy flowed through it like a luxury carriage racing along a smooth highway.
The application might be crude.
The power was not.
I did it.
For the first time, Jinhyuk dodged a punch.
A feat achieved after countless deaths.
His heart pounded wildly.
His legs screamed from the strain of overusing demonic energy.
But none of that mattered.
He had avoided an attack he once thought impossible to evade.
“See? You’re not completely hopeless. Try dodging this one too.”
“…Damn it.”
[You have died.]
[Regeneration complete.]
[Challenge: 99th Floor.]
[Defeat the Demon King.]
[Defeat the Demon King.]
[Defeat the Demon King.]
…
[Challenge: 99th Floor.]
[Defeat the Demon King.]
“…Let’s go.”
How many times had he died?
The message ordering him to defeat the Demon King had become nauseating to read.
At some point, he had stopped counting.
There were simply too many.
The pain of regeneration never lessened.
But Jinhyuk no longer groaned.
He would regenerate, absorb the newly gained demonic energy, and walk silently back toward the castle.
Every single time.
“What a nauseatingly noble light you possess, warrior.”
The Demon King sat upon his throne exactly as always.
I’m actually getting attached to this place.
He had seen the scene so many times that he knew everything.
The angle of the Demon King’s arms.
The timing of his movements.
The fluctuations in his aura.
Every detail.
Every tiny difference from previous encounters.
Nothing escaped him.
Now.
Jinhyuk naturally drew up the demonic energy within his body.
If there was one thing he had learned through endless death, it was this:
How to move demonic energy as naturally as breathing.
The power flowed instinctively now.
Like moving a muscle.
Like extending a hand.
The demonic energy obeyed his will.
Jinhyuk concentrated all of it into his left leg.
Then he leapt.
BOOM!
The Demon King’s fist exploded through empty space.
Jinhyuk was no longer there.
He had escaped the range of the Dragon Slayer Fist.
“Hmm. Not bad. So you’ve realized this fist is dangerous.”
The Demon King laughed as Jinhyuk gritted his teeth and charged forward again.
“Perhaps you really are a warrior. Your body certainly didn’t look trained before.”
“Then dodge this as well.”
The growth was astonishing compared to their first meeting.
Yet to the Demon King, it seemed natural.
After all, Jinhyuk had already dodged once.
The Demon King unleashed a relentless barrage of attacks.
Right.
BOOM!
Invisible strikes filled the battlefield.
Normally, no one could see them.
No one could react.
That was why Jinhyuk had memorized them.
The first attack starts from the left shoulder.
If I dodge right, he’ll close the distance.
Jump forward. No matter what.
BOOM! CRASH!
Of course, the Demon King adjusted according to Jinhyuk’s movements.
The pattern could never be memorized perfectly.
Yet through endless deaths, Jinhyuk had learned the flow.
Tiny habits.
Subtle preferences.
Instinctive choices.
Things so small they barely qualified as habits.
Yet they existed.
And they never changed.
Even the smallest reaction can become a weakness.
Even after memorizing everything, dodging remained a desperate struggle.
His demonic energy was nowhere near enough to keep pace with the Demon King’s true speed.
Still, as he evaded another attack, the Demon King spoke with genuine admiration.
“Remarkable. You possess extraordinary insight. Not foresight… so you’re not an apostle of the Time God. How curious.”
“Hngh…!”
Jinhyuk couldn’t answer.
Every ounce of concentration was devoted to forcing demonic energy through burning circuits.
He was exhausted.
Normally, he would have died long ago.
Maintaining this level of focus and stamina was unprecedented.
Endure.
His body trembled violently.
Cold sweat poured from every pore.
Naturally.
Even with an exceptional magic circuit, Jinhyuk was only Level 2.
His physical stats couldn’t support these movements.
The fact that he was still standing was a miracle made possible only through infinite regression.
Just one more.
Let me see one more attack.
Even while dizziness clouded his vision, he stared at the Demon King.
By now, Jinhyuk had become consumed by the madness of endless regression.
His innate magical power was demonic energy.
At this point, he resembled a demon more than a human.
A battle-crazed monster obsessed with combat.
His current magic power stood at eighty-nine.
An absurd amount for a low-level climber.
Yet compared to those who had truly reached the 99th Floor, it was insignificant.
He had died so many times that his growth had nearly stopped.
Now it took dozens of deaths just to gain a single point.
The excitement of increasing his power was long gone.
Only one thing remained.
How many attacks can I dodge?
That record alone sustained him.
Until now, the limit had always been the same.
The seventh punch.
A strike carrying only a tiny fragment of the Demon King’s true power.
Hundreds of attempts.
Hundreds of deaths.
He had never surpassed it.
A fist brushed past his cheek.
The protection of light shattered.
Flesh tore open.
Blood sprayed into the air.
And yetā
Jinhyuk smiled.
“The eighth… I reached the eighth. Hahaha.”
At last, he had surpassed the seventh punch.
The Demon King’s eyes gleamed.
“Interesting. Your body has already reached its limit. You’re standing through sheer willpower.”
He wasn’t wrong.
What the Demon King didn’t know was that Jinhyuk had reached that limit long ago.
“Then allow me to show you something interesting as well.”
The Demon King suddenly stopped attacking.
He raised a fist beside his face.
The atmosphere instantly grew heavy.
This is new.
For the first time, Jinhyuk had survived long enough to witness this.
His joy vanished.
Because whatever came next…
He had never seen before.
“I will no longer use the Dragon Slayer Fist.”
Jinhyuk’s eyes widened.
“What?”
“Why?”
“Because you are a warrior who stands alone.”
“…I don’t understand.”
“If you were a mage borrowing the power of the Goddess, I would kill you with the Dragon Slayer Fist. But you are neither a loathsome dragon nor a servant of the gods.”
The conversation had taken an unexpected turn.
“In that case, I should treat you accordingly.”
Jinhyuk was confused.
On one hand, without the Dragon Slayer Fist, his chances of survival would increase dramatically thanks to the Blessing of Light.
On the other hand, the deaths that fueled his growth would come to an end.
Ignoring Jinhyuk’s complicated thoughts, the Demon King raised his fist and smiled.
“Let us have a true battle now, warrior.”
His crimson eyes gleamed.
“Show me whether you can transcend the law of the strong devouring the weak.”
