Surviving as a Barbarian in a Fantasy World

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Chapter 348: Hero (4)

The Demon King swung his fist fiercely, the sheer force threatening to tear the ground apart.

Ketal caught the fist.

BOOOOM!

The shockwave spread, and Ketal's hair scattered wildly.

With his other hand gripping an axe, Ketal swung downward.

The Demon King grabbed Ketal's wrist, and the impact shook the world.

Locked in each other's grips, they exerted their strength.

A quiet yet ferocious clash of power ensued.

Crack. Crrrrrack.

The earth, unable to withstand the pressure, began to sink.

Both their bodies suddenly plunged downward.

Thud.

The Demon King, trying to shake off Ketal's grip on his arm, exerted force but couldn't easily free himself.

Instead of continuing to struggle, the Demon King raised his knee, aiming for Ketal's solar plexus.

Ketal didn't stand idly by.

Anticipating the move, he quickly lifted his leg and stomped on the rising knee.

BAAAAANG!

The force exploded outward.

Hell itself began to crumble.

Both Ketal and the Demon King were blown away, hurtling through the air.

Whoosh.

Ketal immediately stabilized his posture and gripped his axe tightly.

The energy around it—the aura, the grotesque power, and divine force—merged into something so intense it was almost unbearable.

The Demon King, too, gathered power in his arms and charged forward.

THUUUUM!

The axe collided with the Demon King’s arms, and the world seemed to shatter.

Ketal wasn’t the type to wield power delicately.

He used it with instinct and precision.

The Demon King was no different.

Born with overwhelming strength, he preferred to crush his foes with sheer force rather than finesse.

Thus, their battle was exceedingly simple.

It was a clash of raw strength against raw strength.

BOOOOM!

Hell, exposed to such power, could no longer endure.

[…Remarkable.]

From the mortal plane, the Tower Master gazed at the sky, watching the hellish world crumble, and murmured in awe.

Hell was a collapsing realm.

The stars lost their form, shattering into countless asteroids.

Even if the fight ended, Hell would never regain its original state.

[In the past, half the world burned, didn’t it? That was a relatively small loss.]

The Demon King's power was something the mortal world could not contain.

Back then, the gods had desperately shielded the world, managing to limit the damage to only half its surface being scorched.

Now, Ketal was standing against that same power.

[Which one of them is the bigger monster, I can’t tell.]

The Tower Master muttered softly.

Meanwhile, in Hell, the battle raged on.

The axe clashed with the Demon King's fist, and both Ketal and the Demon King were pushed back by equal distances.

Ketal exclaimed with a grin,

“Even now, it's balanced!”

The Demon King was strong.

Even Ketal, empowered by the gods, couldn’t overwhelm him.

His earlier assessment—that he was above the old ones—hadn’t been wrong.

While Ketal marveled at the Demon King’s power, the Demon King, too, was in awe of Ketal.

[…The Pantheon’s power. He’s absorbed all of it.]

The Demon King understood Ketal’s current state perfectly, and because of that, he couldn’t help but feel incredulous.

[And yet, he’s completely fine.]

Dozens of gods.

Ketal had absorbed all their divine power, yet he appeared unaffected.

Even the Demon King would have felt the burden, but Ketal showed no signs of strain.

Narrowing his eyes, the Demon King thought,

[Your essence must far surpass mine.]

Perhaps, long ago, Ketal even exceeded those old ones the Demon King had fought.

Instinctively, the Demon King knew this.

[Though you have countless flaws… you're strong.]

Against the current Ketal, the Demon King couldn’t guarantee victory.

But he declared boldly,

[I will win.]

Simply being a higher existence didn’t mean one couldn’t be defeated by a lower one.

After all, even demons often fell to mortal beings.

The Demon King spoke with conviction,

[Your power, after all, is borrowed from the gods. It isn’t truly your own.]

Even if Ketal had absorbed and refined the power into his own, it was not entirely his by nature.

Borrowed power was quick to deplete.

In fact, Ketal’s strength had visibly diminished since their first encounter.

[In the end, you will lose to me.]

“If things continue as they are, yes,”

Ketal admitted without objection.

It wasn’t a false statement.

The Demon King gazed at Ketal with cold eyes.

[Then bring out what you truly possess.]

“Oh? You noticed?”

[Only a fool wouldn’t have.]

During their first fight, Ketal had attempted to unleash something.

At that moment, the Demon King had felt fear—an unfamiliar sensation even to him.

Despite having fought and killed countless gods and old ones, the Demon King had never known fear.

But Ketal possessed something that instinctively frightened even him.

The Demon King spoke with unwavering confidence,

[What I’m fighting now isn’t the gods. It’s you—a foreign being from somewhere else. Don’t rely on divine power. Bring out what’s truly yours, and I’ll crush it completely.]

“…That’s quite a considerate suggestion,”

Ketal replied with faint admiration.

The Demon King wasn’t focusing on the gods but on him.

His earlier display of divine authority had indeed made an impression.

But Ketal shook his head.

“Sorry, but I can’t do that.”

[Are you underestimating me?]

“No, it’s quite the opposite. I’m respecting you. What I possess is far more insignificant than you think.”

The opponent was the Demon King of fantasy.

In that case, Ketal thought, he must respond in kind.

He had no intention of using his special ability.

The Demon King scowled.

[You think you can beat me while sealing your power? Arrogant. Then die here and now.]

“I don’t plan to,”

Ketal said, smiling faintly.

“As you said, my power is borrowed and depletes quickly.”

The solution was simple: make his opponent run out of power faster.

And there was a way to do so.

Bam!

Ketal kicked off the ground.

Seeing Ketal charging, the Demon King clenched his fist.

It was filled with power, malice, and might.

This was the Demon King’s full strength.

The Demon King swung his fist, and Ketal countered with his axe.

Boom!

Ketal's body was pushed back.

He had lost in a contest of strength.

At the sight, the Demon King's brow twitched.

‘…He held back his strength on purpose?’

Ketal had deliberately softened his stance to minimize the impact.

The Demon King immediately lunged forward, clenching his fist.

Malice and energy began to gather within it.

Crack.

But before that, Ketal tightened his grip on his axe and swung it at the charging Demon King.

The axe collided with the fist.

Clang!

And it was the Demon King who was pushed back.

The Demon King groaned as he was forced backward.

He hadn’t been able to transition to defense in time due to attacking Ketal with full force just moments earlier, and thus lost in the clash of strength.

Step.

Ketal charged forward again, raising his axe.

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The Demon King quickly lifted his arms.

The Demon King was using his body to simultaneously attack and defend.

Of course, he wasn’t doing this with just his bare flesh.

He infused his body with malice and energy, strengthening himself momentarily.

The Demon King poured everything into his arms for defense.

Considering the intensity of their exchanges so far, this was a natural response.

But then—

Thud!

The axe that struck his arm rebounded surprisingly lightly.

[……!]

The Demon King realized his opponent had deliberately reduced his power.

He tried to summon his strength again, but having committed to full defense earlier, there was a delay.

Ketal didn’t miss that opening.

Boom!

The Demon King’s body was once again pushed back.

As he barely regained his footing, his pupils quivered.

[Why?]

“Your strength is too simplistic.”

The Demon King lacked any sense of restraint.

Every attack he made was full power.

The reason wasn’t hard to guess.

“You’ve never needed to fight differently.”

The Demon King was born strong.

He was stronger than the old ones.

Even the combined strength of dozens of gods couldn’t match him.

In other words, he had never fought anyone weaker or equal to himself.

Simply striking with full power was enough to obliterate his foes; there was no need to conserve his strength.

The Demon King’s near-limitless demonic energy further compounded this.

“But I’m different.”

Ketal had once been weak.

He had fought desperately against stronger opponents in his frail state.

That never changed, even as time passed.

He knew better than anyone how to manage strength to secure victory.

“You’ve never fought anyone equal to you.”

[……!]

The Demon King swung his fist fiercely.

It was infused with his full power.

Until now, every opponent had been forced to use all their strength merely to block or evade that blow.

But not Ketal.

Clang!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

He used only a fraction of his power to respond to the Demon King’s strike.

Then, he poured the strength he had conserved into his next attack.

When one uses overwhelming strength, gaps inevitably appear.

This applied even to the Demon King.

The delay following his full-power attack left him vulnerable, and Ketal capitalized on it.

Crash!

[Urgh!]

The Demon King groaned as the skin on his arm was slightly torn.

Clang! Clang!

Ketal pressed his advantage relentlessly.

The Demon King stomped his foot, unleashing a massive wave of demonic energy that shook the surroundings.

But Ketal didn’t back down.

He poured everything into his axe and struck downward.

The wave of demonic energy split, creating a gap through which Ketal maneuvered his body.

Crash!

The Demon King was forced back again.

He quickly analyzed the situation.

Should he fight like Ketal?

No, that was impossible.

He had spent his entire life crushing everything in his path.

Now wasn’t the time to learn such precise control.

Even if he could, he’d still lose to Ketal in this method.

The solution was simple.

He would use even greater power.

He would crush him without pause.

Boom!

The Demon King’s power exploded, eliminating any openings.

Ketal gave a knowing look.

“As expected.”

Against strength, even greater strength.

By pushing his power to the extreme, he could maintain relentless attacks without gaps, albeit at the cost of immense energy.

He had successfully drawn Ketal into a short, decisive battle.

What remained was a pure contest of power and skill.

Crack.

Ketal pushed off the ground, swinging his axe downward.

The Demon King countered with a fierce punch.

Boom!

The impact neutralized both attacks.

The Demon King immediately stepped forward and threw another punch.

Now, the Demon King could deliver full-powered blows without delay.

Ketal swallowed hard and matched him.

Clang!

Axe and fist collided.

The Demon King followed up with a kick, powerful enough to rupture Ketal’s insides if it connected.

Ketal twisted his body narrowly to evade it, countering with a punch that struck the Demon King.

Boom!

The Demon King didn’t retreat.

Ignoring the impact, he lunged at Ketal, throwing another full-powered punch.

Ketal’s instincts screamed at him to evade.

But he ignored them, stepping forward and meeting the punch head-on with his own.

Boom!

Fist collided with fist, creating a deafening roar that pulverized the ground beneath them.

The immense shock reverberated through their bodies.

“Ha! Hahaha!”

[Come!]

Neither backed down.

Ketal locked eyes with the Demon King, whose gaze was filled with hostility and determination aimed solely at Ketal.

Seeing this, Ketal’s face broke into a wide grin.

Yes.

This was what he had always sought.

Laughing wildly, he kicked off the ground.

The Demon King responded with another ferocious punch.

The fierce battle raged on without pause.

And finally—

Crack.

Ketal’s fist struck the Demon King square in the face.

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