The five mercenaries were lined up against the third-story balcony with their eyes opened wide. Jang Shin ran hurriedly into the shower. When they heard him throwing up, Mike frowned.

  “Does that punk still think of blood as blood?”


  “What should he see it as?”


  “That’s red water, just water. Didn’t you hear what Black Mamba said? Everything depends on how you perceive it,” Mike replied to Emil’s question with a stern expression. Mike was progressively becoming more philosophical.

  Emil looked at Mike with a strange facial expression. General Mike had received a beating from Black Mamba several times. Emil remembered hearing about something called Stockholm syndrome. If he was uttering philosophical nonsense like ‘everything depends on how you perceive it,’ something must have happened to his brain for him to become a fan of Black Mamba.

  ‘What should we do if he ends up saying he wants to be Black Mamba’s partner?’


  Emil became slightly worried.

  “A man that could slice through a neck with a whip is even scarier than Black Mamba. Do you think Black Mamba can win?” Jang Shin asked with a voice full of apprehension.

  “He has to win. If Black Mamba loses, then our necks are on the line.”


  ‘As expected, that man was never one to answer a question in a straightforward manner.’ Emil was confused as to whether he should laugh or cry.

  “Why isn’t he using a gun?”


  “Look at his movements—in the time it takes to pull out a gun, he’ll be sliced five times by that whip.”


  “What about the kukri?”


  “He can’t get past the whip’s radius.”


  As Mike and Emil analyzed the fight, the two predator’s battle was reaching a climax.

  Swish—


  With that sound, Black Mamba’s back bent backward 90 degrees. This wasn’t a skill that was possible, even with regular training. A human muscle was unable to last long enough to hold it in that position. This was a skill plausible only for Black Mamba.

  The whip passed his chest and landed on the statue of the donkey. The head of the decorative piece fell to the ground. The moment it landed with a loud thud, Black Mamba charged forward explosively.

  ‘The neck!’ Black Mamba had read the wrist movements and lowered his upper body as if he was falling forward. The whip cracked in midair then changed direction to fly toward the back of his head.

  Losing his advantage, Ocelot quickly raised his left hand to defend his face. Black Mamba used the back of his hand to slap away the whip aiming at the back of his head and pushed away Ocelot’s defense.

  His forehead crashed into the undefended area with full force.

  Crack! The sound of a nicely dried gourd splitting echoed.

  “Agh!”


  For the first time, a scream came out of Ocelot’s mouth. His face, which had already been attacked once before, was now a bloody mess.

  Ocelot followed closely behind Black Mamba, who was pulling back. His consecutive attack skill exploded. It wasn’t ten consecutive hits, but ten wheels bombarding him at once.

  Ocelot’s upper body, which allowed him to use the full impact of his skill, was beaten to a pulp like ground garlic and shook like a sandbag. But even at that moment, Ocelot grabbed Black Mamba’s arm.

  If he was unable to stop his movements, then he decided to just break his back instead. Surprised by the sudden burst of brute strength, Black Mamba was pulled in like a piece of straw.

  Ocelot had made a mistake.

  Black Mamba, who had allowed himself to be pulled in, limp, shoved his fist into him and pulled his arm back. He threw Ocelot around like a Judo athlete.

  “Ack!”


  Ocelot was flown into the air by Black Mamba’s strength.

  Crash—


  The flying body landed on the second story balcony, smashing it, and fell inside. Following it was an agonizing scream. Inside the hotel, the light of two life forms died out.

  “You’re obsessed with blood.”


  A fight was only a fight between those who could fight. That was the difference between humans and wild beasts. Uncontrolled strength was a weapon—and an evil one. It wasn’t human. Ocelot was not a worthy being in Black Mamba’s eyes.

  Its existence in the world was but a menace.

  Black Mamba pulled out his kukri. Someone who wasn’t useful to the world had to be erased.

  Bam! Ocelot crashed through the wall and popped out. His gold hair fluttered around in the air. His two eyes shot red lasers toward Black Mamba.

  “Huh, have the beast’s instincts exploded out of you? That beastly instinct is all you have that warrants you commenting on the worthiness of civilians,” taunted Black Mamba.

  “Die, hybrid!” Ocelot sped to close the 50 feet between them. The whip flew through the air with immense ferocity. Like a striking bolt of lightning, the whip raged through the 50 feet.

  The whip wrapped around a tree and pulled it out of the ground before it crashed and shattered the lamppost, table, and chairs. The debris from the mess blocked his sight.

  Black Mamba initiated his spatial awareness and was able to read Ocelot’s movements one step faster than a human. Black Mamba’s body swayed, able to avoid the attacks with ease. They were only 15 feet apart, but he was always half a step faster so that his shadow couldn’t be caught.

  Black Mamba grabbed the whip, which was only possible because he had been able to read his opponent’s movements with confidence.

  “Ah!” Black Mamba gasped. The handle had a launcher. Bang!

  With that sound, the whip that had flown away from him flew back like a boomerang. Ocelot followed the whip and went after Black Mamba, who had lost his advantageous position.

  In his hand was a shining sword. The explosion of the whip had revealed the hidden sword within it.

  “Ha, is this the martial art that you blabbed about?”


  At the valley in Er Ekdim, Rosque had already beaten Black Mamba. If he was fooled again, he would have been an idiot. He had already prepared the next move when the whip had flown out of Ocelot’s hand.

  Clang—


  The powerful collision made the hotel’s windows shake.

  Ocelot’s sword was just as powerful, able to resist the immense strength of the kukri.

  Black Mamba was no match for Ocelot’s strength. His arm bent, and he staggered as the sword continued to swing at him.

  The close-contact battle caused Black Mamba to be pushed back. Ocelot was much more equipped in strength and quick movements. Each of Ocelot’s hand and foot movements were deadly. If Black Mamba had been forced to name it, Ocelot was a beast.

  Clang, clang, clang—


  Each time Black Mamba blocked an attack, the force of it shook his bones. While he was being pushed back, he threw up blood. His organs had been shaken up.

  “What… what is happening?” Emil asked the captain. It looked as though Black Mamba, who had been winning against the monster, was now on the losing side. The instantaneous change in the attacks between the two monsters was extremely difficult to follow with his eyes.

  “How the hell would I know?”


  “Captain, aren’t you a master in Krav Maga?”


  “Whoa, you fool, what’s the point of Krav Maga in front of those monsters? My eyes can’t even follow their movements.”


  “Is Black Mamba losing?”


  “He looks to be losing at the moment, but it’s so fast that I can’t really tell.”


  “Hey, quiet!”


  After a collision between the two predators, they both took a step back and created distance between themselves.

  The leaves and dust that had been flown into the air, blocking the moonlight, slowly settled back on the ground.

  ‘What am I doing right now?’ Black Mamba was jolted back to his senses. This was the enemy’s territory. He had a comrade that was at death’s door; he didn’t have time to casually continue fighting for the sake of training his physique.

  ‘Was I always this selfish of a person?!’


  Guilt stabbed at his heart and caused him to abandon his greed.

  ‘Flowing water doesn’t rot, and a rolling stone doesn’t grow moss.’ He had thought that this saying meant that he always had to continue moving forward.

  ‘The goal to create the perfect physique rotted the mind!’


  He was finally able to understand the power of change through one’s mind. The characters of the idiom, Jung Hae, Don Oh, Jung, or Samadhi, meant to become accustomed to and Hae, or Pan, meant an open heart. Once open, it continued to flow, and once it continued to flow, it continued to grow.

  It was a moment of epiphany for him. A pillar rose up in his consciousness.

  Swoosh—


  Black Mamba’s surroundings started to move in front of him, and his energy changed to that of a typhoon.

  ‘Is the hybrid tired?’ Ocelot, thinking he had found an opportunity, pushed forward like an eagle targeting a rabbit.

  “You fool.” Black Mamba concentrated all his energy once he had come to his epiphany. He shot the energy beam right into Ocelot’s ear.

  “Ack!”


  Ocelot’s face contorted like that of an evil spirit. Something pounded his head like a hammer. Ocelot, with his eardrum in immense pain, fell into disarray.

  It was just a small opening of time, but it was enough. With a swishing sound, Black Mamba’s kukri split the air like lightning.

  “Ack!” An agonizing scream erupted. “Hybrid, you just wait.”


  Ocelot grabbed at his chest and jumped over the wall of the hotel.

  “Damn, it was a bit shallow,” Black Mamba lamented.

  As expected, Ocelot’s physique was incredible. In a situation where it should have split his heart, it was only pushed inward. It was a reaction that didn’t require any action from the brain. All he had been able to do was split his left lung. A normal person would have died whether their heart or lungs were hit, but for a man with this physique, it hadn’t been a critical hit.

  Black Mamba was lost in a moment of thought.

  ‘Should I chase after him or not?’ He had deja vu and remembered Choi Do Shik, who ran away with his neck stabbed and half his arm falling off. That night had also been full of stars like that night. If Ocelot had been Choi Do Shik, he would have attacked back even after his chest was split. Black Mamba turned away after glaring at Ocelot’s back. He was strong yet stupid.

  “Black Mamba, just wait. I will chew you up.”


  Ocelot’s last words trailed out from behind him.

  He was a ghost-like human—no, entity. He had appeared out of nowhere and disappeared without a trace after causing havoc all around him.

  “Miserable punk, next time I’ll skin you and slice you up into sashimi.”


  Black Mamba felt like he had been scammed after meeting a weird punk. His body was a mess. All his bones were dislocated, and his arm and right jaw bone were fractured. Several ribs were also broken.

  Both his upper and lower body were a bloody mess. Two chunks of skin were missing due to the whip, and his muscles were damaged here and there. Only after being hit by a speeding truck multiple times would one end up in such a state.

  “Oh, I feel like I’m going to die.”


  Black Mamba dropped the blood-stained kukri and plopped on the ground. He wanted to chase after Ocelot, but his body wasn’t listening to him. Every joint seemed to be creaking.

  Why had he given up on chasing him? It was because he knew that even if he chased after Ocelot, he couldn’t guarantee that he would win. This was the enemy’s home ground, so gaining back his physical condition was the first priority. He may have let him go because he was the only man in the world that was similar to him.

  “What a relief!”


  This was the first time he had fought with everything he had since he wore a soldier’s uniform. Every shred of his cockiness melted away and made way for relief.

  Ocelot was a man with an impossible physique. On the other hand, he was easily excitable, and his thinking was slow. His mentality couldn’t keep up with his physical power. Using his energy force and spatial awareness, he wasn’t a difficult opponent to defeat.

  All his strength seeped out of him as he flopped to the floor.

  “F*ck, there sure are a lot of stars.”


  “Black Mamba!”


  His comrades ran toward him.

  “What happened to him?” asked the impatient Mike.

  “My attack was a bit shallow. I broke three of his ribs and split his left lung, so his heart was probably affected, too.”


  “He’s probably dead then.”


  Black Mamba shook his head. “That’s nonsense. He’s not one to die that easily. After a couple of months of pain, he’ll recover.”


  “No way! Is he some black cat with nine lives or something?” Mike jumped in a fury.

  The captain looked around the chaos around him and muttered to himself, “His chest was split open, but he won’t die? This place is just full of monsters. I definitely need to retire.”


  The 5,200-square-foot area looked like it had been decimated by a bulldozer with not a single place left undisturbed. The grand trees had been cut and uprooted and ground into sawdust. Rocks were broken, while human-made structures were also in shambles. Even the stonework was nothing but rubble. Two decapitated bodies half-buried in the dirt completed the setting.

  “Is this the aftermath of a battle between two people?” muttered the captain with an expression of disbelief. Their mission to save the Raccoon had become stranger and stranger as time went on. Now, even an unimaginable monster had come after them to wipe them out.

  “Whoa, we should give up our call name as the rescue team.” The captain sighed with a sense of defeat.

  “Out of the way!” Bell Man pushed Mike out of the way as he ran toward Black Mamba holding a stretcher.

  “Whew, he got sliced real good. Is this pastry or a salmon fillet?”


  Bell Man let out a long sigh.