How strong could I be, having reached the very limits of what it means to be human?
In response to that…
He simply swung his sword.
——Chop!
[……!!]
The space split apart.
Numerous realms intertwined between Jörmungandr and the Sword Hero, slicing through dimensions like a hot knife through butter.
That severing force was, quite frankly, overwhelming. It wasn’t just about cutting—it was a strike that could theoretically cleave any concept of matter that didn’t even exist in this world.
——Swish!
Space shattered like glass as the true strike aimed toward Jörmungandr.
In response, the colossal creature moved its massive body, dodging the incoming sword strike as if riding a wave.
Thought he dodged, huh?
——Swoosh!
The sword strike twisted unexpectedly.
What had seemed to vanish, breaking through space itself, bizarrely twisted back and landed a hit on Jörmungandr’s massive body.
The scales crumbled like paper, sending shockwaves through the air.
The sword had accurately targeted a gap in the scales.
As a result, crimson blood flowed from Jörmungandr’s body.
The strike definitely wasn’t that damaging.
Jörmungandr was far too enormous to worry about such minor wounds.
But still…
[Impressive.]
It really was surprising.
To think my body could be wounded like this.
The Sword Hero, Lee Ji-hoon, merely gazed at me with cold eyes.
“I’ve faced countless foes who couldn’t be affected by swords. If you think just a scale can take me on, you better brace yourself.”
His aura vanished.
At the moment he swung his sword through thin air, it felt like all senses had disappeared, as if he didn’t exist in this space.
[…….]
Even Jörmungandr couldn’t see him.
This wasn’t just some flimsy hiding act—he’d instinctively understood.
He knew in this very moment, he had hidden himself in a new realm.
Where could he be?
When would he strike?
Jörmungandr counted the seconds.
One, two, three…
Now.
——Swooosh!
An invisible space split apart.
Even quicker, a massive tail bursting with overwhelming mass crashed through the crack in space.
“……!”
The Sword Hero realized too late and tried to overlap the space with his sword, but it was useless. Jörmungandr’s power didn’t abide by dimensions.
In one sweep, the tail shattered dozens of spaces and walloped the Sword Hero, sending Lee Ji-hoon tumbling back kilometers away.
Yet, he remained unscathed.
Healing rapidly, he coolly reflected on the skirmish they just had.
“…It’s similar.”
The Demon God.
It bore a close resemblance to the Demon God that had gifted him endless despair.
No concepts of space worked against him.
It possessed overwhelming power, truly a living disaster.
“But.”
The Sword Hero’s eyes focused far ahead.
Even from this overwhelming distance, a giant snake still loomed nearby.
His blue eyes shimmered.
Calmly facing the monstrous being, the Sword Hero bent his knees.
“If that’s all you’ve got, you’d better be prepared.”
Boom!
His aura shot forth like an arrow.
The Sword Hero felt the surrounding space twist as he swung his sword.
This time, it wasn’t just a basic slash.
He was preparing to take on the Demon God.
Decades upon decades of relentless training and technique honed for that purpose.
Spatial Slash.
First Form.
——Divine Punishment.
Born into a human body.
This was the culmination of everything he had for slaying a god who stood in arrogant pride at the highest peak.
Punishing the divine.
His sword, honed to a razor’s edge, twisted bizarrely in the air.
And simultaneously—
[……!!]
A colossal strike engulfed all of Jörmungandr’s space.
It was unbelievably massive.
This wasn’t the size of an attack a human could conjure.
It felt like a hunt.
A net of endlessly massive slashes cruelly tore apart Jörmungandr’s entire being.
This wasn’t a slash limited by size.
Only.
It would continue endlessly until he obliterated his target from this world.
The slashes rained down.
The moment the first strike touched Jörmungandr’s body, his scales snapped like paper, leaving deep wounds on his flesh.
The second slash followed.
That strike bizarrely traced the path of the previous strike through Jörmungandr.
The already overwhelming blade traced back, targeting the wounds it had just inflicted.
In that instant.
Jörmungandr unleashed divine energy.
Bright white divine power surged from his form, quickly claiming the surrounding space, creating barriers designed to block the incoming slashes.
“It’s futile.”
This strike was intended solely to slay a god.
Born as a lowly human, it was a weapon that embodied nothing but a mad dream of killing gods.
So,
The divine couldn’t interfere.
As if the divine didn’t exist at all.
His slash penetrated Jörmungandr’s divinity, burrowing into the giant serpent.
But Jörmungandr wouldn’t go down easily.
He swiftly healed from the wound inflicted by the slash, twisting his body intensely.
In that fleeting moment, his twisted body vibrated and deflected the slashes in bizarre directions.
This wasn’t just abstractly bending space.
Rapidly vibrating scales absorbed the strike while reading the wavelengths of the slashes, strangely twisting them all away.
“…….”
Lee Ji-hoon silently observed the scene.
Indeed,
He was quickly adapting to the slashes.
No, he already seemed to have mastered it.
Even as numerous slashes flew at him, none were able to land a hit on Jörmungandr.
As if it were the most natural thing.
With just minor wounds, Jörmungandr who had grown accustomed to the attack would simply let Lee Ji-hoon’s slashes pass by.
That overwhelming adaptability.
Just as expected,
It was familiar to him.
The Demon God he faced had similarly analyzed, adapted, and countered every attack thrown at him.
“Indeed, there’s a reason for the confidence.”
[Now it’s my turn.]
Jörmungandr lunged forward.
His endlessly towering body shot forth like a slingshot, swiftly passing by the Sword Hero while enveloping everything around him.
It was an overwhelming size.
At that moment, the Sword Hero felt as if the entirety of space he occupied was wrapping around him.
No.
It wasn’t an illusion.
At this very moment,
Jörmungandr was encompassing all space within his domain.
[Twist!]
As he whispered this,
The space twisted.
No, it wasn’t just space.
Countless overlapping dimensions crumbled against his being and began to contort.
An overwhelming mass descended upon him.
At this moment, the Sword Hero felt every space enveloping him was compressing him tighter.
Like a little mouse caught in a snake’s coils.
A pitiful creature crushed to death under a weight thousands of times stronger than itself.
This wasn’t entirely false.
From the lofty heights, the gods would see him as nothing more than a buggy little creature.
But.
Even that tiny ant
Could support the sky.
Spatial Slash.
Second Form.
This was
A desperate thrash of an ant trying to uphold the heavens.
——Sky Piercing.
Recognize there’s a vast expanse between you and the sky.
Even if the sky is as high as it is,
In the end, there exists an excruciating difference in space between them.
If one understands this,
they could withstand even if the sky were to fall down.
The Sword Hero raised his sword.
The flat side—not the blade—faced the heavens.
The sword’s flat side created a massive difference in space around the Sword Hero.
As he swung, a pure white curtain emblazoned itself in the path of his sword.
A presence that,
Even if it was an attack twisting dimensions,
Creaked loudly!
“…….”
It didn’t penetrate.
The Sword Hero quietly observed the distortions in space trying to gnaw at his sky.
Impossible.
As long as he did not allow it, the twisting of space could impact his sky.
Creak…
A tiny fracture appeared.
Not a crack etched into the sky, but one marking the twisted space trying to invade his sky.
As it squeezed in,
The sky quickly expanded its range.
What was once so close began to stretch infinitely farther away in an instant.
“The sky is the sword containing the principles of the heavens.”
No matter how much one strives to reach for the sky.
The heavens will distance themselves from all existence again.
His unyielding conviction tore through the space, halting Jörmungandr’s attempts to contort him.
[…….]
Once more, through the now peaceful space,
A massive serpent’s blue eyes glimmered.
He was quietly staring at himself.
Another self,
A being who gained another body and reached divinity, or so it was said?
It was astonishing.
I couldn’t believe there was a chance I could become a god.
Simultaneously,
A fury began to bubble within me.
“…Why is it you?”
[…….]
“If only you had granted me the possibilities, the merits, the talents, the divinity a bit more.”
If that were the case,
Perhaps I could have led a charge against the Demon God.
Jörmungandr did not respond.
Ah, right.
He knew he was also a victim of sorts.
Another self who resisted the fate of destruction.
However,
I couldn’t shake off the rising jealousy.
It just didn’t sit well with me.
I couldn’t understand
Why the goddess chose him instead of me.
I needed to confirm that.
“Kill me.”
If not,
“I’ll kill you.”
He swung his sword.
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