PAID

BOOOOOM!

…Had they hit this thing thousands of times by now?

RUMBLE…

Anyone who’s ever hit a punching bag knows—hitting something repeatedly is far more exhausting than it seems.

At first, after about ten strikes, you start thinking, Huh? This isn’t so bad. Maybe I have a knack for this.

Then, after a few dozen more, reality hits. Shit, this actually hurts. My arms are killing me.

Hitting something, again and again, was exhausting.

And if that target was a massive, living, moving creature?

That made it infinitely worse.

That’s why, after their very first sparring session, most people end up drained, lying on the floor, muttering—

"I… I think I’ll quit boxing (or martial arts in general)."

And now, just like that—

"Huff… Huff…"

"……"

"This is exhausting…"

—They were pushed to their absolute limits, battling against an entirely new type of monster.

This fight had gone on for 98 minutes.

Just two more, and they’d reach the 100-minute mark.

It had been so long, so grueling, that it was making them reminisce about their first-ever sparring matches…

…And now, their lives were flashing before their eyes.

This wasn’t a battle anymore. It was war.

It felt less like a fight and more like trying to build a 90-story skyscraper while dangling off the steel frame, hammering away nonstop.

Had they been ordinary knights, they would have collapsed from exhaustion long ago.

But by sheer luck—or fate—these three knights had gathered.

And they were anything but normal.

They had long surpassed the limits of regular humans.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

If some status window gamer had to describe them, they'd be labeled [Lv.8 Hero-Class Knights].

Their endurance rivaled the camels of the desert.

Which is why—

Despite being pushed to their limits—

Despite everything—

They endured.

And finally—

[…K……E…….]

—The monster fell.

The Abyssal Fiend’s body slowly melted away, disintegrating into dust like sand slipping through fingers.

Just as its name suggested, it was returning to the underworld.