Chapter 639
Thinking about it, it made sense.
No matter how powerful the Thousand-Year Spider was, in the end it was still a spider.
The Poison-Blooded Land was littered with webs, and the last of the five siblings was fleeing desperately along those threads.
What I hadn’t expected, though—
Thump! Shwish-shwish!
—was how unbelievably fast it could run.
‘…Why the hell is it so fast?’
Maybe it was its desperation to escape. Or maybe it had pre-laid threads everywhere to speed its retreat. Whatever the reason, the gap between us wasn’t closing. It darted across the air and giant trees dozens of jang above, and I had no good way to cut it off.
‘Guess Spider-Man’s speed wasn’t just for show…’
I muttered to myself while running with the Phantom Ghost Killing Steps. Suddenly, a chill swept over me, and I instinctively ducked my head.
Slash!
A sharp slicing sound—and clumps of my hair scattered into the air.
The culprit was none other than spider silk, hardened and taut as steel wire, moving with such speed it became razor-sharp.
“Yal Mok!”
I shouted a warning the moment I realized. But his larger frame and rougher movement left him a step behind.
Slaash!
It was like watching a razor commercial. Instead of flesh or bone, it was his scalp that got shaved clean.
“…Why did you call me?” he growled, his face grim.
“…No reason. Just felt like it.”
The mane-like hair that once crowned him was gone. After the acidic spit and now this, the Beast Miao King’s head gleamed like a freshly hauled octopus.
‘Is this Doctor Octopus versus Spider-Man?’
The roles seemed reversed, but still—it looked like a superhero showdown. My chest swelled just watching.
But his fury shot to the heavens.
“You dare!”
And of course, it wasn’t only about his lost hair. He had lost hundreds of warriors—his people, his tribe. His eyes blazed with rage.
Boom!
He stomped, and the damp ground collapsed like a sinkhole. Using the recoil, he leapt skyward and hurled a fist.
Whoosh—BOOM!
Compressed air ripped apart the space, slicing hidden webs and blasting toward the Thousand-Year Spider.
Screeech!
But it slipped away, just barely dodging death. The sound it gave off wasn’t ordinary.
Screee—
It drilled into our ears like a transmission, rattling the air itself. And with it, countless movements stirred.
‘This is…’
Rustle, rustle!
From the Poison Fog, from the blackened ground, from the ancient trees—things emerged.
I remembered the phrase.
‘King of Poisons.’
That’s what they called the Thousand-Year Spider. And now, the poisons that had lain in wait all across the Poison-Blooded Land were answering their king’s call.
The army appeared.
Snakes like whips. Centipedes the size of logs. Frogs with heads as large as humans. Swarms of bees bursting from the treetops.
A grotesque host beyond count, each monstrosity grotesque enough that I didn’t want to know their names.
Dozens became hundreds. Hundreds became thousands. They formed a solid wall.
Rumble!
The horde became a black tidal wave, blocking the only path forward. And above, looking down like a sovereign, the Thousand-Year Spider stood proudly on its webs.
“…Acting cool now, are you, bastard?” I muttered.
This had been its plan from the start.
The South really was a damned land. Even beasts and spiders were this cunning.
It had lured us into its territory, then summoned its army. Its intelligence rivaled humans—no, even surpassed some.
‘Compared to that brainless insect Taesan fought, this thing is Einstein.’
I turned to the Beast Miao King. Even for him, born and raised in the South, this was a first. He met my gaze and spoke firmly.
“Do not fear. Neither of us will die here.”
Fear?
I chuckled. That word had never been further from me.
Sure, I always thought of myself as fearful. But whenever death came close, I had never once retreated.
‘At first I became a hunter because I feared nothing. Later I trained martial arts because I feared everything.’
A strange paradox. Driven by fear of death, yet always walking into battlefields where death was certain.
But today—I knew I wouldn’t die.
Rumble!
The wave of poisons surged closer. I spoke.
“When they’re gone, kill it. No—just leave it barely alive.”
“…What?”
“Remember. Don’t hesitate. Now’s the time. It’s lowered itself, it’s vulnerable.”
He stared, baffled. But instead of answering further, I moved.
Step. Boom!
Qi exploded from my toes like lightning, propelling me forward. The Poison Fog parted.
And ahead, the vast wall of thousands of poisons loomed.
Shhhhk!
Darkness descended. The Poison-Blooded Land, already dim, fell into utter black.
But from my spear of White Flame, light erupted.
Vwoooom!
Blue fire blazed, brighter than the sky. My Scorching Yang Energy, concentrated into thirty years’ worth of qi, surged together into a catastrophic firestorm.
And then—
‘One Annihilation.’
KABOOOOOM!
Light and thunder split the world.
—
The Beast Miao King, Yal Mok, had always thought of himself as a wild man. Rough, raw, unrefined.
But time and position had forced him to change. He had become a great chief, then the Palace Master of the Southern Beast Palace.
He stopped fighting for sport, stopped cursing at every breath. He couldn’t even smack sense into disobedient chiefs anymore.
But the sight before him now moved even his restrained lips.
“…What the hell is that. What the hell…”
BOOOOM!
Everything melted and shattered.
The wave of poisons—creatures that could kill tigers, wipe out oxen, devour bears—were reduced to ash before the blue inferno.
“…Unbelievable.”
It had been fifty years since the Great War of Justice and Evil, since he had last seen such devastation.
Even the Sword Demon’s final strike paled in comparison. Even the Fire King Jeok Cheon-Gang, who had crushed that same Sword Demon, had never shown such power.
And yet this youth—
‘What the hell is he…’
He remembered the words.
‘When they’re gone, kill it. No—leave it barely alive.’
He’d thought it nonsense. Now it was reality.
And he knew what he had to do.
BOOM!
He launched upward, just as the Thousand-Year Spider faltered in shock.
* Siiiii!?
Its many eyes froze as they spotted him.
With what hair he had left whipping in the wind, the Beast Miao King smiled coldly.
“Finally caught you, you bastard.”
The spider had made two fatal mistakes.
First—underestimating the young man.
Second—killing his people, and shaving his hair.
Swaaash!
It spat slime in final desperation. But his hand seized its leg.
Crack!
* Screeeee!
With a scream, its limb tore free, and the Thousand-Year Spider plummeted toward the ground.